DISINFO: NATO provoking a conflict in the Black Sea
SUMMARY
The Black Sea is becoming the zone of dangerous military confrontation. NATO exercises in the region, i.e. Sea Breeze 2021, are provoking the conflict.
RESPONSE
Recurring disinformation narrative about NATO and its military exercises.
NATO has no purpose in militarizing or weaponizing the region of the Black Sea. The exercise 'Sea Breeze 2021' has no testing or provocative intent towards Russia: it is a multinational military exercise that has been hosted in Ukraine since 1997. The exercises are co-organised by Ukraine and the United States. Its objective is to improve Ukraine's defence capabilities to meet the standards required by NATO.
To claim that 'Sea Breeze' has provocative goals is a distortion of NATO's purposes. NATO is a defensive alliance, whose purpose is to protect its member states. The primary aim of the alliance is to maintain peace and safeguard the independence, security and territorial integrity of its members. NATO follows strict procedures and emphasises transparency during military training exercises, which are announced months in advance and are subject to international scrutiny.
Read similar cases claiming that the purpose of the Sea Breeze exercise is to provoke and test Russia, or that NATO plans to continue provocations in Russian territorial waters, or that Greece's participation in Sea Breeze is a provocation against Russia.