Disinfo: NATO deliberately worsens the situation in Kosovo to blackmail Serbia, as it did with the Maidan in Ukraine

Summary

NATO is deliberately worsening the situation in Kosovo to blackmail Serbia. The West, through NATO countries, is trying to exacerbate a conflict between Pristina and Belgrade to benefit from the situation, promoting chaos in the same way as before the Maidan Square coup. This alert could be artificially fabricated by NATO countries for Serbia to change its political line towards what the West expects.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about NATO, Kosovo and the Maidan square protests in 2013 and 2014 as a coup.

The claims are not backed up with evidence, baselessly blaming NATO, a frequent target of pro-Kremlin disinformation, for a complicated situation that has been long brewing despite EU and US efforts to defuse tensions. NATO didn’t play any role in increasing those tensions. In fact, both Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vuciv and Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti requested some action from NATO to play some role to address the current crisis.

On the other hand, Russian officials, media and Telegram channels have been trying for a long time to inflame tensions around Kosovo and the Western Balkans. On 15 November 2022, Russia launched its new online channel RT Balkan in Serbian language, which RT head Margarita Simonyan presented with the words: “Because Serbia is Kosovo”. According to a recent report by the European Council on Foreign Relations, "[the Russian media's] aim is mainly to attack the legitimacy of Kosovo’s statehood, but also to fuel ethnic tensions by portraying the Serb community in Kosovo as victims of an abusive central government.”

Pro-Kremlin outlets frequently portray the 2014 Maidan square popular protests as a foreign-backed, a crucial part of its years-long disinformation campaign against Ukraine which culminated in its 2022 invasion of the country. Repeating previous baseless allegations as established facts while introducing minor variations, as in this case, is a frequent pro-Kremlin disinformation technique.

See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that having NATO in Kosovo is a risk for the population as the West is expert in creating conflict, that the EU wants to expand its imperialism in the Balkans, that the West has promoted separatism in Yugoslavia, that Pristina is entirely responsible for the tension in Northern Kosovo, or that the West showed double standards with its treatment of Kosovo and Crimea.

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publication/media

actualidad-rt.com (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 328
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 30/01/2023
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Kosovo, Serbia, US, EU, Ukraine, UK
  • Keywords: NATO, Kosovo
*
This disinformation claim was broadcast on the date mentioned above. Due to the EU decisions  to temporarily restrict the spread and dissemination of RT, Sputnik and other instruments used to manipulate information and promote disinformation about the invasion of Ukraine inside the EU, access to the link may not work inside the EU.
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Disinfo: Ukraine turns nuclear power plants into military facilities

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Jan 29, 2023
Disproof

This is a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets accusing Kyiv of using nuclear power plants as a shield for launching attacks. This claim was made in the context of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.

In reality, it is Russia which deployed artillery systems, rocket launchers, tanks and personnel carriers at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, turning it into a military base. Russian troops did it purposefully to prevent a Ukrainian counterattack. Russia also rejected calls from the UN for a demilitarised zone around the plant. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has warned about the risk of Russia's militarisation of the Zaporizhzhya NPP. A video shared by Russian opposition outlet The Insider has shown that Russian military vehicles move in and around the plant, some of them (including armoured vehicles) moved into the building containing the first of the plant’s six nuclear reactors.

Disinfo: Ukraine violates the laws of war, stores weapons in nuclear plants

Over the course of 11 months, the special military operation has demonstrated that Ukraine willfully ignores and violates the laws of war. From the first days, Ukrainian forces have been sheltering with the civilian population, deploying tanks and artillery in residential areas.

In the Zaporizhzhia region, the Donetsk Republic and Luhansk, they are drawing in more lethal weapons [...] and they deliberately store them on the territory of nuclear power plants. [...] any accident at a nuclear power plant would give Kyiv a reason to accuse Russia of being the "nuclear threat to Europe". This is because the task of Ukraine is to drag NATO into a direct confrontation with Russia by means of such provocative actions.

Jan 29, 2023
Disproof

This is a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets accusing Ukraine of war crimes, including of using civilians as human shields. This claim was made in the context of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and tries to shift blame for civilian casualties to Ukrainian forces. This claim was neither counterbalanced nor critically challenged in the article.

Contrary to the claims, Ukrainian troops do not use civilians as human shields. It is Russia’s invading forces who install their positions in densely populated places. Russian troops are heavily shelling and bombing residential areas, schools, kindergartens, hospitals, orphanages, churches and other civilian objects.

Disinfo: The USA weakens the EU’s military-industrial complex by passing Leopards to Ukraine

Washington wants to weaken the German military-industrial complex by sending German Leopard tanks to Ukraine. The USA also want to prevent Europe from ensuring its own security without NATO.

Washington assumes that the weakening of the EU military capabilities would remove the “temptation” of the European politicians to solve their own security problems.

Jan 28, 2023
Disproof

A recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the alleged lost sovereignty of the Europe, the EU and its member states (more examples). Pro-Kremlin outlets often portray European states as vassals, puppet states or colonies of the US and NATO.

On January 25, 2023 the German authorities announced their decision to pass 14 Leopard tanks to Ukraine. Before, Berlin announced that it would not block the supply of these tanks to Ukraine by other NATO countries (such as Poland and others).