Why does Joe Biden continue with his stance on Ukraine, accompanied by an enormous political and media hysteria about an invented Russian invasion? Why has this smokescreen been sold to the media? If the US really doesn’t believe that this is going to happen, why threaten with sanctions? Biden had to sell this speech to gain strength, to calm the Russophobic lust of the Baltics, of Poland, of Brussels entourage, that even before the Biden-Putin meeting called for more sanctions.
Summary
Relations between Moscow and Kyiv deteriorated after the 2014 coup in Ukraine, which was followed by the accession of Crimea to Russia.
An armed conflict also broke out in the Donbas region, between the Ukrainian army and the forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics.
Disproof
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the war in Ukraine and illegal annexation of Crimea. See our article Disinformation-about-the-current-russia-ukraine-conflict-seven-myths-debunked.
War in Ukraine is in fact a well-documented act of aggression by Russian armed forces. The involvement of Russian personnel and equipment in the creation of the DPR and LPR has been well documented already for years.
No international body recognises the so-called referendum in Crimea. The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution entitled “Territorial integrity of Ukraine”, stating that the referendum in Crimea was not valid and could not serve as a basis for any change in the status of the peninsula. On 17 December 2018, the UN General Assembly confirmed its non-recognition of the illegal annexation of Crimea.
Moreover, there was no coup d'état in Ukraine. The spontaneous onset of the Euromaidan protests was an organic reaction by numerous parts of the Ukrainian population to former President Yanukovych’s sudden departure from the promised Association Agreement with the European Union in November 2013. See the full debunk of this disinformation claim.
The EU is among the strongest advocates of Ukraine's sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity. In the beginning of 2022, on 4-6 January, the EU High Representative Josep Borrell visited Ukraine, including Kyiv and the Stanytsya Luhanska check point - see his statement / blog here on the consequences of the war. The High Representative said, inter alia,
“I could eyewitness the consequences of the war in the Donbass region and hear and see how the conflict has dramatically affected the lives of thousands of people, with many destinies destroyed. ...
Russia is a party to this conflict, and not a mediator as it often claims. Our main interest, concern and purpose is to get Russia to de-escalate tensions.”
See also the statement from the European Council of 24 January 2022.
Read similar cases in our database that claims that the Euromaidan coup led to civil war in Donbas; or that Ukraine is preparing a military escalation in Donbas; or that Russia has nothing to do with the conflict in eastern Ukraine; or that the Crimean people chose to be with Russia through a democratic procedure; or that Crimea’s reunification with Russia was legal.