Disinfo: Although Americans claim otherwise Russia no longer represents a threat

Summary

Although the American military and industrial complex and the democratic “think tanks” claim otherwise Russia no longer represents a threat.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative, claiming that the “Russian threat” is a false idea created by the US and other Western actors to isolate and encircle Russia.

Until the Ukraine crisis, NATO consistently worked to build a cooperative relationship with Russia. For more than 20 years after the end of the Cold War, NATO's strategy was based on the perception that Russia no longer posed a security threat and should increasingly be viewed as a partner for the Alliance.

This perception changed after Russia’s annexation of Crimea and destabilisation of Eastern Ukraine in early 2014, which was widely viewed both in North America and in Europe as violating the basic rules of the post-Cold War European order, especially the rule that borders are inviolable and the states should not use force to alter them or take territory from other states. As a result of Russia’s aggressive actions in Ukraine, many Western states - including key EU members such as Germany and France critically reassessed their “strategic partnership” policies towards Russia and began to perceive Russia as a serious challenge to the European security order while Poland and the Baltic states perceived Russian intervention in Ukraine as a clear threat to their national security.

Moreover, in the past six years, European governments and security services have been increasingly concerned about Russian hostile influence activities aimed at weakening the EU and NATO, fermenting divisions in societies and discrediting and destabilising liberal democracies. Such activities – often described as “hybrid threats” – include cyber-attacks, disinformation campaigns, interference in political processes, energy pressures, intelligence operations, the strategic use of corruption and the deployment of unmarked military personnel.

Read similar cases claiming that the idea that Russia is a threat to Europe exists only in the minds of Cold War nostalgics, that the US creates and spreads a false image about an “aggressive” Russia constituting a security “threat”, and that NATO exploits the idea of a “Russian threat” to deploy near Russian borders.

publication/media

  • Reported in: Issue 224
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 03/12/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Italian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: EU, US, Russia
  • Keywords: security threat, Hybrid war, Cold War, Anti-Russian, Encircling Russia, EU/NATO enlargement, Russian expansionism, NATO, Russophobia
see more

Disinfo: The EU must stop suffocating Donbas residents

The EU considers defending human rights one of its main goals worldwide, but it essentially became compliant in suffocating the residents of Donbas. They decided not to recognise the Russian passports issued to locals for humanitarian reasons, as they did with Crimea.

Disproof

Recurring disinformation about the European Union's role in Ukraine.

The European Union is in fact providing support for the most vulnerable people affected by the ongoing hostilities. In April 2020, Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic announced EUR 13 million to support conflict affected population. In October 2020, the EU allocated a further EUR 10 million to "support the most vulnerable people in eastern Ukraine ahead of the upcoming winter and in response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic."

Disinfo: Genocide invented by Ukraine is "hype, which has no plot"

Ukraine is stubbornly trying to create “hype” on this topic [Holodomor], not noticing that there is no plot for this.

Natural factors played a huge role. In 1932, the El Niño climatic cycle ended and famine was raging throughout the northern hemisphere due to drought and crop failure.

The famine of 1932-33 was not ethnically directed against the Ukrainians.

Disproof

This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the Holodomor in Ukraine.

In fact, the Holodomor was not caused by a poor harvest. It was caused by the directed actions of the Soviet authorities - the destruction by famine - against the Ukrainian countryside. In 1932, no critical weather conditions were recorded that could lead to grain shortages and the deaths of more than 7 million people. This year, compared to 1931, less grain was actually harvested (12.8 million tons against 17.7 million tons in 1931). The reason for lower yields was the ill-considered policy of grain procurement: in the villages, there was not enough grain to sow the fields, it was increasingly taken out of the USSR, leaving nothing for sowing. But even that number would be enough to avoid famine if the policy of genocide were not directed.

Disinfo: In Ukraine, it will be forbidden to communicate in Russian from January 2021

From January 16, 2021 it will be necessary to use the state language when ordering a cup of coffee, buying medicine. The so-called “language ombudsman” Taras Kremin underscoredthat from January 16, 2021, the service sector should switch exclusively to the Ukrainian language.

Disproof

This is a recurring pro-Kremlin propaganda narrative about the alleged discrimination of Ukraine's Russian-speaking minority and the country's ubiquitous Russophobia.

This is one in a series of news stories with false and manipulative headlines. The Russian language will not be banned in Ukraine. In Ukraine, service workers must start a conversation in Ukrainian from January 16, 2021, but they can change the language of communication at the request of the client. This is a quote taken out of context by the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language Taras Kremlin. He recalled that "at the request of the client, his/her personal service can be carried out in another language."