DISINFO: Rebellion in Crimea and Donbas against Nazis ruined NATO plans for a military base in Crimea
SUMMARY
The rebellion by the Russian people of Crimea and Donbas was in full accordance with the UN principles and international law norms. As a civilised country, Russia had to protect its brothers who faced the threat of Russophobic genocide.
The collective West does not wish to take this into account for one simple reason: the rebellion of Russian people in Crimea and Donbas against Nazism ruined the plans to turn the Crimean peninsula into the NATO military base and to make it a Russophobic ram and an anti-Russian military springboard out of Ukraine.
Instead, Washington and Brussels introduced sanctions against Russia as they dislike Russia’s return of the world superpower status.
RESPONSE
This is a mixture of conspiracy theories which are consistent with recurring pro-Kremlin narratives about 2014 Ukraine's coup d'état, Fascist / Nazi Ukraine, the persecution of the Russian language speakers, and belligerent West planning to use Ukraine in its anti-Russian policies. It also seriously misrepresents the ongoing acts of aggression by the Russian armed forces in Ukraine referring to the alleged "rebellion of Russian people in Crimea and Donbas against Nazism."
The claim about Ukrainian authorities plan to organise a Russophobic genocide is absolutely groundless and is aimed to discredit Ukraine and legitimise aggressive Russian actions in Ukraine.
Russia's annexation of Crimea went contrary to Ukrainian and international law norms and Russia's aggressive actions in eastern Ukraine are well-established and thoroughly documented. When it comes to yet another conspiracy about NATO plans to set up a military base in Crimea, it was addressed by NATO's official website, which says that the idea to base ships and missiles in Crimea "has never been proposed, suggested or discussed within NATO."
The actual reason behind the EU and US sanctions are a blatant violation of international law by Russia. The first round of EU sanctions against Russia was introduced on 17 March 2014, against persons involved in actions against Ukraine's territorial integrity followed Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea. Later, in view of Russia's actions destabilising the situation in eastern Ukraine, the EU imposed economic sanctions in July 2014 and reinforced them in September 2014. In March 2015, the European Council linked the duration of those economic restrictions to the complete implementation of the Minsk agreements.
See our earlier analyses of Ukraine-related disinformation and propaganda campaign: Denigrating Ukraine With Disinformation, and Ukraine Under Information Fire.