DISINFO: The West is punishing Russia
SUMMARY
Russia adopted a path that would consolidate its sovereignty. When the West realised and understood that it would not be able to deviate us (Russia) from this approach, it began to punish us.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Western sanctions against Russia being unjustified. This claim is also consistent with the recurrent pro-Kremlin narrative claiming that Western states allegedly pursue a belligerent and hostile agenda against Russia, as well as the narrative claiming that Western sanctions imposed on Russia are the result of anti-Russian attitudes.
This claim was neither counterbalanced nor critically challenged in the article.
Western states have imposed sanctions on Russia not for ideological reasons, as the article claims, but as a response to specific unacceptable foreign policy actions by the Kremlin which undermine international stability and security, such as the illegal annexation of Crimea and destabilisation of eastern Ukraine, the shooting down of flight MH17, the poisoning with chemical weapons of Sergey Skrypal and his daughter in the UK, as well as Russia's interference in US elections, the SolarWinds attack and other malicious cyber activities and transnational corruption.
Russia has also been sanctioned for the attempted murder with chemical weapons of political opponent Alexei Navalny and the violation of his rights by his arbitrary arrest, trial and sentencing,
Read similar cases claiming that the West hates Russia because of Russia’s strong state and traditional value system, that as part of a consecutive cycle of Russophobia, the West again threatens Russia with fruitless sanctions and that Western sanctions are illegal and hostile actions.