DISINFO: The West is provoking a war against Russia
SUMMARY
By promising to retake the annexed Crimea, Ukraine poses a "direct threat" to Russia's territory. As per the US-British strategy, the whole of Europe will be drawn into the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The West is encouraging Kyiv to sabotage the Minsk agreements and NATO is planning to push Russia and Ukraine into an open confrontation.
RESPONSE
A mixture of recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the war in Ukraine, alleging that the West is interested in a proxy war against Russia on Ukrainian territory and using Ukraine as a tool for confrontation with Russia.
These disinformation messages appeared in the context of renewed Russian military buildup along the Ukrainian border toward the end of 2021. Their aim is to both justify and distract from Russia's increasingly aggressive foreign policy.
The war in Ukraine is a well-documented act of aggression by Russian armed forces since February 2014 and there is irrefutable evidence of direct and ongoing Russian military involvement in Eastern Ukraine since then. The involvement of Russian personnel and equipment has been well documented for years and includes firing artillery over the border into Ukraine, the deployment of armoured vehicles and troops in contested provinces of Eastern Ukraine, the use of non-state actors such as Russian private military companies, and the launching of thousands of cyber attacks against Ukrainian targets.
Neither Ukraine nor NATO pose a threat to Russia's territory. Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014 and remains occupied by Russia's military, is legally part of Ukraine. Ukraine is adhering to the Minsk agreements and signed a ceasefire agreement with the Russia-backed separatist forces in Eastern Ukraine in July 2020, but the separatists have been violating the agreement nearly every day since then.
Read similar cases of disinformation in the database claiming that Russian aggression is used as a pretext to station NATO military close to Russia's borders, that NATO arms' deliveries nudge Ukraine towards a military solution in Donbas, or that Ukraine does not comply with Minsk Agreements, while similar accusations against Russia are absurd.