Europe and the United States have turned Ukraine into a bridgehead for attacks on Russia over the past seven years. Now it is not the Ukraine we remember. They have held a lot of military drills there aimed against Russia, including ones with the use of nuclear weapons. The Southern Ukrainian cities of Odesa, Ochakiv and Mykolaiv are turning into NATO bases. There are no Russian national interests in Ukraine now. There will be no Russian national interests in Ukraine until the Russian army strikes Ukraine’s Nazi leadership.
This is a recurring disinformation narrative claiming the West is using Ukraine as a tool for military confrontation against Russia. In reality, cooperation between Ukraine and the West is multifaceted and not limited to military issues alone.
Kyiv and the European Union signed the Association Agreement in 2014, which paved the way for more comprehensive bilateral interaction in many spheres. This agreement is the main tool for bringing Ukraine and the EU closer together, promoting deeper political ties, stronger economic links and respect for common values. Ukraine receives financial aid from the West to stabilise its economy and help it overcome corruption.
Ukraine indeed cooperates with the West in the military sphere. Kyiv established relations with NATO in the early 1990s. Since 2014, in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, cooperation has been intensified in critical areas. Ukrainian troops have been participating in Sea Breeze exercises since 1997. This year's games have been the largest since that time. However, this cooperation is only aimed at enhancing Ukraine's defence capabilities rather than doing harm to any country, including Russia. What Kyiv and its partners demand from Moscow is that it should stop backing its proxies in Donbas and pull out from all illegally occupied Ukrainian territories. Neither the European Union nor international organisations have recognised Russia’s occupation of Crimea and parts of Donbas.
Sea Breeze-2021 exercises were conducted after Russia’s huge military build-up along Ukraine’s border. Moscow had been groundlessly accusing Kyiv of provocations in Donbas, thus justifying the amassing of Russian troops in the region. These Russian military activities are posing a real threat to Ukraine and safety in the region. On the other hand, participants in the traditional annual Sea Breeze military exercises are striving to make the Black Sea region safer and more stable.
Contrary to reports by pro-Kremlin outlets, NATO does not smuggle any military equipment to Ukraine under the guise of military exercises. Ukraine receives Western military aid legally and openly. Earlier this year, the United States announced a military aid package to Ukraine worth $125 million. Russia, on its side, clandestinely provides the Donbas separatists with military aid, of which there is plenty of documented evidence.
Read more disinformation narratives from pro-Kremlin outlets about NATO’s alleged provocative behaviour towards Moscow and the Alliance’s threat to stability along Russia’s borders.
According to the official narrative, former Russian spy Alexandr Litvinenko was poisoned with polonium. But documents compiled over 40 years ago by East German security services show a 100-percent similarity between symptoms of poisoning by polonium and those caused by thallium nitrate poisoning.
In other words, Litvinenko may have been poisoned with thallium nitrate and then contaminated with a polonium marker to cover up the traces.
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative surrounding the poisoning of Russian spy-turned-whistleblower Alexandr Litvinenko.
The claim is built entirely on a non sequitur. Even assuming that four-decade-old Stasi documents comparing the toxicological effects of thallium and polonium survive to this day, this does not in any way entail that Litvinenko was poisoned with thallium in 2006.
The West failed to achieve the colour revolution in Belarus.
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Western attempts to organise a colour revolution in Belarus.
Western countries did not organise or help in organising protests in Belarus. Large-scale protests began in Minsk to contest the results of the presidential election in Belarus on the 9th of August 2020, which were not monitored by independent experts, and are largely considered fraudulent by both international observers and a large part of the Belarusian society.
The European allies of the USA are helping it to organise provocations against Belarus. These countries are, above all, Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania and, partially, Latvia. Recently, we have seen that the terrorist activities in Belarus are being directed by Germany.
Democracy and human rights are just words. During the recent attempts to commit terrorist acts in Belarus and murder journalists, [the Belarusian security services] detained many people. These facts were passed to the German leadership that has not reacted. The ran-away Belarusian extremists and terrorists have planned regular provocations against Belarus. These facts were passed to Polish and Lithuanian authorities that also did not react.
A recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Western attempts to organise colour revolution in Belarus – Poland, Germany, the Baltic states and Ukraine are presented here as countries with hostile and aggressive plans towards Belarus.
The claim that Poland, Lithuania, Germany and other countries are involved in some alleged “terrorist” activities against Belarus are unfounded. Poland is a neighbour of Belarus and it continues to support the Belarusian people. Poland respects the principles of international law and does not intervene in the domestic affairs of any country.
