Disinfo: NATO exercises have a clear anti-Russian focus

Summary

The United States and its NATO allies are deploying troops to the borders of Russia, and their main combat potential is concentrated in the Black Sea and Baltic regions.

Every year in Europe, NATO conducts up to 40 major operational training events with a clear anti-Russian focus.

Disproof

This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about NATO allegedly pursuing a belligerent and hostile agenda against Russia.

Every country has the right to conduct exercises, but it is important that they are conducted transparently and in line with international obligations.

NATO is a defensive alliance, whose purpose is to protect its member states. During the Warsaw summit in July 2016, NATO has made it clear that:

"The Alliance does not seek confrontation and poses no threat to Russia".

NATO's exercises and military deployments are not directed against Russia – or any other country. Exercises are designed to ensure that NATO forces are trained, able to operate together and ready to respond to any threat from any direction.

For more information about NATO-Russia relations and disinformation narratives about NATO, see here and here.

See other examples of disinformation about NATO in our database, such as its never-ending provocations, its attempts to block Moscow in its sphere of influence, that Military exercises, like Defender 2020, are directed against Russia, that the Sea Breeze exercises are directed against Russia, or NATO exercises in Estonia are an unfriendly message addressed to Russia, that NATO’s politicians use Defender Europe 2020 as an opportunity to escalate tensions with Russia, that NATO maneuvers in Europe are organised to create zones of tension for Moscow.

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  • Reported in: Issue 240
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 13/04/2021
  • Article language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Russia, US, EU
  • Keywords: Military exercise, Anti-Russian, NATO, security threat, Encircling Russia
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Disinfo: An Ukrainian drone kills a 5 years old child near Donetsk

On Saturday 3 April 3, a 5 years old child perished in the western suburbs of Donetsk in a drone attack with an explosive device by the Ukrainian army.

The Ukrainian armed forces used an unmanned aerial device equipped with an improvised explosive device, which was dropped on the village of Aleksandrovka. As a result, a child born in 2016 died and a resident born in 1954 was injured.

At that time, two civilians were in their garden. As a result of the criminal actions of Ukrainian activists, a child born in 2016 was killed, while a local woman born in 1954 was injured and taken to hospital where she received necessary medical treatment.”

This tragic incident strongly reacted to the President of the Russian Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, who denounced the guilty silence of the West. “The European media don't talk about it. There are no statements from the European Parliament or the US State Department. The foreign ministers of European states do not talk about it. No decision has been taken on the expulsion of diplomats. And we do not stigmatise a president of the country who sent a military drone to war against his own people.

There are no big initiatives on behalf of the dead child to impose sanctions on Kiev, there is no reaction at all. The West in general simply ignores the crimes in Kiev. [...] On the geopolitical chessboard, Brussels and Washington are trying to play a bloody gambit, hardly realising that the game cannot be won "

OSCE agents report the case of a five-year-old child killed on April 2 outside his grandmother's house by an explosive device. According to the authorities of the DPR this tragedy results from the shelling by the Ukrainian army of a village close to the line of contact.

Disproof

The claim is doubtful and unverified. The case has been covered by Euvsdisinfo, Stop Fake, The Insider, Censor.net. The involvement of Ukrainian drone is a striking story but very unlikely, the probable hypothesis is that the child died from a mine stored by his family members since the most active period of the war 2014-2015.

It attracted emotional reaction at highest political level since the death of a 5 year old child is striking and triggered narratives about the cruelty of Ukrainians and the heartless western world that doesn't react.

Disinfo: The EMA delayed the reception of Sputnik V's application for 6 weeks for political reasons

Russia sent the application for registration of its Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on 21 January 2021, but the latter only confirmed having received the dossier in early March.

This 6 weeks delay, between 21 January and 4 March 2021, shows what the EU's priorities for vaccination are.

Disproof

Pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about vaccines, targeting the European Medicines Agency.

On 10 February 2021 the EMA denied having received any application for the Sputnik V vaccine. EMA informed:

Disinfo: The US is building biolaboratories on Russian borders

Russia must pay attention to the information about the existence of dangerous biological laboratories operating near our borders, because the West has extensive experience in the genocide of the peoples of America and Australia, including the extermination of humans with the help of viruses and bacteria.

Some of the former Soviet states - Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan - have built biological laboratories for the Americans on their soil, and they are unlikely to give up cooperation with them.

Disproof

This is a recurring disinformation alleging that the United States develops biological weapons and has secret biological laboratories around the world. Consistent with the Pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign against biological laboratories in Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine and other countries.

The disinformation about US biolabs in countries bordering Russia aiming to encircle Moscow and spread infectious diseases is a part of a years-long disinformation campaign led by the Kremlin. In fact, biological laboratories are involved in preventing the risks of complex diseases and, together with other similar projects, counteracting bioterrorism.