Disinfo: “Russian threat” is an invention of the West and NATO in order to expand eastwards

Summary

Saying that Russia wants to destroy the EU or NATO is naive and perhaps suitable for mass media.

Why did the first wave of NATO’s eastward expansion occur? Russia was struggling to survive at the time. So what were NATO’s reasons back then? In retrospect, attempts were made to construct a security risk from Russia. Do you really think Russia would invade the Baltic States? What should Russia do with Lithuania?

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative claiming that the “Russian threat” is a false idea created and spread by NATO to encircle and weaken Russia.

NATO does not "expand" in the imperialistic sense described by pro-Kremlin media. Rather, it considers the applications of candidate countries who want to join the alliance based on their own national will. As such, NATO enlargement is not directed against Russia. NATO's "Open Door Policy" is based on Article 10 of the Alliance's founding document, the North Atlantic Treaty (1949). The Treaty states that NATO membership is open to any "European state in a position to further the principles of this Treaty and to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area". Every sovereign nation has the right to choose its own security arrangements. This is a fundamental principle of European security and one to which Russia has also subscribed.

Since the illegal annexation of Crimea, NATO has been genuinely concerned about the security challenges posed by Russia to Transatlantic security.

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Reported in: Issue 186
DATE OF PUBLICATION: 23/01/2020
Language/target audience: German
Country: Russia, US
Keywords: security threat, EU/NATO enlargement, Anti-Russian, Russophobia, NATO, The West
Outlet: Sputnik Deutschland

Pentagon’s biolabs in Armenia are a threat to the existence of the nation

It is a well known fact that three bio-laboratories in Armenia, in Yerevan, Gyumri and Idzhevan have been opened with the cooperation with Pentagon. Officially, they are intended to safeguard people and livestock from pandemics. Similar laboratories have been opened in Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. In 2018, the former Georgian minister of national security, Igor Gioradze, disclosed shocking details about one of the laboratories in Georgia, financed by the US ministry of defence: at the facility, experiments on humans were performed, and 73 people had died.

The Armenian people have fought for millennia for their independence and for securing the nation; and they will now have to fight again for preserving their statehood. Everyone must understand that in the balance for short- or medium term gains, lies not only the independence, but the existence of the country. This must be a priority when decisions are made about cooperation with foreign partners in such a sensitive field as biological security.

February 14, 2020

Disproof

Conspiracy theory with no evidence given. Based on recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the biological weapons and Lugar Lab.

Read more about Lugar Lab on Myth Detector.

The advance of ISIS in Africa is supported by the International Criminal Court

The International Criminal Court (ICC) began preliminary investigations on the situation in Nigeria in November 2009. Naive enthusiasts of “International judiciary” believed that the ICC prepared charges against the terrorists of “Boko Haram”. But no charges have been filed under more than ten years of “investigations”. From the latest report of the ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda we can learn that the army of Nigeria is persecuting… supporters of “Boko Haram”. ICC is in reality defending the terrorists against the government’s forces.

The advance of ISIS in the world generally and in Africa particularly is a result of coordinated actions of institutes for global control, like the International Criminal Court, using this terrorist organisation as their armed branch.

February 14, 2020

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative claiming that the US and other Western states are supporting or working together with terrorists. Read here similar cases claiming that ISIS has been supported by US, British, French and Israeli intelligence services in order to demolish Syria and that Al Baghdadi was an American product.

As regards the Nigerian case, the ICC has launched a preliminary examination of the the situation in Nigeria since November 2010 (n.b. The ICC has not launched a official investigation). From a legal perspective, no substantive field investigation is under way. Analysts (not investigators) have mostly relied on open source reporting and voluntary interviews with other IOs and NGOs, in order to establish if the Nigerian authorities are appropriately investigating incidents reported to them.

Moscow returned Russian identity to Crimea

Moscow agreed to return the Russian identity to the Crimea in 2014.

February 14, 2020

Disproof

This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the illegal annexation of Crimea.

Moscow did not "return" the Russian identity to Crimea, but was rather illegally annexed. On 27 March 2014, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in which it stated 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.