Disinfo: NATO tries to achieve security through very aggressive actions

Summary

An agreement with Russia is in the interest of the EU and it has a strong impact on the European’s level of life. NATO also needs such an agreement with Russia as it will provide peace. At the same time, there is only talks about security, not peace. And in the case of NATO, they tend to achieve security through very aggressive actions.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative, portraying NATO as a threat to global peace because it has an aggressive agenda. NATO exercises and military deployments are not directed against Russia – or any other country. The claim that NATO is encircling or threatening Russia is one of the myths about this organisation.

NATO regularly updates the military requirements for civilian infrastructure, at a time when there are increased challenges to security. Following Russia’s annexation of Crimea and amid emerging security challenges in the Middle East and North Africa in 2014, NATO leaders at the Wales Summit adopted the Readiness Action Plan, a comprehensive package of enhanced collective defence and deterrent measures designed to ensure the transatlantic alliance could respond swiftly and firmly to changes in its security environment.

See several other anti-NATO narratives such as NATO provoking Russia; NATO is fully subordinated to the USA; Eastern European countries are NATO “hostages” (Baltic states, Moldova, Poland).

publication/media

  • Reported in: Issue 171
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 31/10/2019
  • Outlet language(s) Polish
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Russia
  • Keywords: security threat, Military, Anti-Russian, Provocation, European Union, NATO
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Disinfo: Al Baghdadi might have been a US agent

Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi was in the Camp Bucca detention center inside a US base in Iraq for about five years “under the auspices of the United States.” As he was leaving the detention centre, Al-Bahdadid said “see you in New York guys”. This implies that he knew many US officers and soldiers in the detention centre hailed from New York City. There are many question marks about how a terrorist organisation would give allegiance to a leader who had just come out of a US base after five years in detention, and earlier why he had been released without trial, or even not sent to Guantanamo like other terrorists.

Disproof

Conspiracy theory perpetuating a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative that the US has created and is supporting terrorist organisations.

Details of the operation to eliminate Al Baghdadi have been confirmed by the Pentagon, the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Iraqi intelligence. Parts of the footage filmed by US troops involved on it has been released, as announced by US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and president Donald Trump.

Disinfo: Ukraine is doing everything to disrupt the transit of gas for the benefit of the US

Naftogaz is doing everything to disrupt the talks and to put an end to a new contract. This strange behaviour forces Russian analysts to suppose that the Ukrainian company is acting against the national interests because of direct instructions from Washington. The latter does not want a competitive European gas market and, therefore, does not need a Ukrainian gas transmission system.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative blaming Ukraine for the disruption of the gas talks between Russia and Ukraine and plans to cut gas transit from Russia to the EU. Mixed in there is another often encountered pro-Kremlin disinformation claim blaming the US for trying to monopolise the EU gas market. Ukraine has made it clear that it is interested in and ready to continue the transit of gas from Russia to the EU. On 19 September 2019, during the third round of trilateral gas talks between the EU, Ukraine, and Russia, the Ukrainian delegation confirmed its willingness to sign a new contract for the duration of 10 years under the EU law. Ukraine’s Naftogaz handed over a draft interconnection agreement and a draft standard transmission agreement to Gazprom. Naftogaz reaffirmed its willingness to sign a new contract during the fourth round of negotiations held in Brussels on 28 October. The claim that the U.S. is planning to monopolise the European gas market is an exaggeration. According to Eurostat, Russia was, and remains, the largest supplier of natural gas and petroleum to the EU. Moreover, it has increased its share over the past few years. Whereas in 2017 Russia accounted for 39.3% of all gas imports, in 2018 its share increased to 40.2%. The other large suppliers of natural gas are Norway (35% in 2018), Algeria (11.3%), Qatar (5.8%), and other suppliers – 7.7%. It is the same situation with petroleum where Russia's share is 27.3%; Norway is in second place with 11.2%. As of 2018-2019, the U.S. is only the third biggest supplier of LNG to Europe with a share of 12.6% of all EU LNG imports. For the U.S., EU is also not the biggest purchaser, since it accounts only for 10% of all U.S. LNG exports. Overall, from August 2018 until April 2019, the EU bought in from the U.S. 10.4 billion cubic metres of gas. To compare, in 2018 Russia’s gas exports to the EU reached 202 bcm which set a record.

Disinfo: The West dreams of tearing Belarus apart from Russia and to organise a Ukraine-like scenario

All talk about Belarus’ peaceful mission in Europe or about European Belarus are good chances for the West to tear Belarus apart from Russia and to wage a geopolitical war against Russia from Belarusian territory. The US and EU dream about an anti-Russian scenario in Belarus, similar to the one organised in Ukraine in 2014.

Disproof

This message is a conspiracy which is consistent with recurring pro-Kremlin narratives about West-staged colour revolution in Ukraine and plans to do so in Belarus, about Western aggressiveness towards Belarus and Russia, and Western attempts to disrupt Belarusian-Russian relations. The EU has never staged, nor does it intend to stage, a colour revolution in Belarus or any other country. Nothing in the bilateral paths of cooperation suggests that the EU's goal is to make Belarus an anti-Russian country as alleged. Read more about the relations between the EU and Belarus here. See earlier disinformation cases alleging that the US and NATO see Belarus only as part of an anti-Russia bastion, the West's only interest in Belarus is to make it anti-Russian, that the EU plans to take over Russia and to ruin Belarus just as it did to Ukraine, and that the West aims at cultivating anti-Russian sentiments in Belarus.