Disinfo: The main threat to NATO comes from the alliance itself

Summary

During his visit to Kuwait, NATO Sectetary General said that NATO has problems with flexibility, as well as with unity. “In all its years, NATO has never experienced a more complex security environment than it does today. To maintain our security, we need to be agile and prepared to respond to threats coming from all directions. From land, sea, air, space and cyberspace. From all directions. Also from State and non-state actors.” “In November, the French president announced the death of the alliance’s brain. The reason was the lack of coordination on strategic decisions in NATO. The statement angered the allies: Trump, for example, called Macron’s words offensive, and Erdogan advised the French leader to think about the death of his own brain,” noted Stoltenberg. “While France calls for an open dialogue with Russia, the rest consider it a threat,” he said, adding that the main threat to NATO still comes from the alliance itself. Stoltenberg noted that they have yet to find out if the alliance can survive its own internal threat.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative undermining NATO. This article completely misinterprets the speech given by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg during the ICI Anniversary Ceremony at the NATO-ICI Regional Centre. This example of Russian propaganda is wishful thinking, attributing comments to him which he did not express. Regarding what he actually said in Kuwait, this is as follows (full speech can be seen here).

"In all its years, NATO has never experienced a more complex security environment than it does today. To maintain our security, we need to be agile and prepared to respond to threats coming from all directions. From land, sea, air, space and cyberspace. From all directions. Also from State and non-state actors".

publication/media

  • Reported in: Issue 179
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 17/12/2019
  • Outlet language(s) Russian
  • Keywords: Emmanuel Macron, European Union, Jens Stoltenberg, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Angela Merkel, NATO
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Disinfo: Lawyers refused to defend Ukraine in international court

No lawyers have yet agreed to defend Ukraine at the hearings at the international public tribunal for the incident in the Kerch Strait.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about the Kerch Strait incident. The tribunal in question is actually a local event in Crimea. Ukrainian lawyers refuse to participate in it, as it has no legal ground. There are no other formal legal proceedings between Ukraine and Russia other than the case in the UN International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. At a meeting in Hamburg on 25 May 2019, the UN Court ordered Russia to immediately release the 24 captured Ukrainian sailors, as well as return the Berdyansk, Nikopol, and Yani Kapu warships to Ukraine.

Disinfo: NATO and EU are actively fabricating Russophobia in the Baltic States to justify their anti-Russian policies

The interests of the NATO and EU powers in the Baltic States are determined by the geographical situation and the possibilities to use the Baltic States as a disruptive factor against peaceful conditions of cooperation and understanding in the region and in neighbourly relations with Russia. The powers of NATO and the EU are actively interfering in the shaping of internal relations of the Baltic States; their focus is on the creation of “fear of the Baltic towards the Russians”. This fear can be instrumentalised externally for the goals of the NATO and EU powers for the control of Baltic States against Russia. An enemy image of Russia is created. The effect on the cultivation of Russophobia is achieved through the systematic fomenting of internal political contrasts between different nationalities. The Western powers need this atmosphere of fear and instability to justify their anti-Russian policies. Especially after the accession of the Baltic states to NATO and the EU, the West has shown that it is determined to further develop this geographical area on Russia’s western borders and to actively use it for its geopolitical goals. The nature of these measures, as well as the military-political steps, show that its policy towards Russia is increasingly degenerating towards military confrontation. For the Baltic Sea and its neighbours and for Europe, this means increasing militarisation and the danger of war.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Russophobia in Lithuania and the Baltic States. Also consistent with a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about NATO encircling Russia. For more than two decades, NATO has worked to build a partnership with Russia, developing dialogue and practical cooperation in areas of common interest. Cooperation has been suspended since 2014 in response to Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine but political and military channels of communication remain open. Concerns about Russia’s continued destabilising pattern of military activities and aggressive rhetoric go well beyond Ukraine. Read more about NATO - Russia relations here. See similar pro-Kremlin disinformation cases: "Russophobia is the main export of Lithuania", NATO is closing in on Russia's borders; The European foreign policy is determined by a group of Russophobes controlled from US.

Disinfo: Poroshenko was the epitome of the 'War Party', which instigated the war in Ukraine

Volodymyr Zelenskyy does not belong to the ‘War Party’, while Petro Poroshenko was the epitome of the ‘War Party’, which instigated the war in the East of Ukraine and caused the bloodshed of the Ukrainians.

Disproof

No evidence is given that Ukrainian leaders like Petro Poroshenko are to blame for the 13,000 deaths recorded to date in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. In fact, it was Russia who violated Ukraine's territorial integrity by the illegal annexation of Crimea and supported and armed separatist groups in Eastern Ukraine. The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has stated that "the information available suggests that the situation within the territory of Crimea and Sevastopol amounts to an international armed conflict between Ukraine and the Russian Federation. This international armed conflict began at the latest on 26 February when the Russian Federation deployed members of its armed forces to gain control over parts of the Ukrainian territory without the consent of the Ukrainian Government".