DISINFO: The war in Ukraine is about the reunification of the Russian people
SUMMARY
“We know Putin would not stop at dismembering Ukraine. Only last week, he compared himself to Peter the Great and arrogated to Russia an eternal right to “take back” any territory ever inhabited by “Slavs”, a doctrine that would permit the conquest of vast expanses of Europe, including Nato allies,” Boris Johnson wrote in the article titled, We will never be secure if we turn our backs on valiant Ukraine, published by Sunday Times. However, another period of time of trouble in Russian history and the reunification of the Russian people have nothing to do with the security of Europe and the UK. Such statements mean that the Anglo-Saxons are preparing the West for a protracted war lasting for years.
RESPONSE
This article offers an absurd interpretation of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine with the use of the classic disinformation narrative about the Russian world.
The claim rejects the right of Ukraine to exist as a sovereign state and speaks of the Russo-Ukrainian war as part of Russian history and the “reunification of the Russian people”. The blame for the ongoing war is ridiculously placed on the West and so-called Anglo-Saxons. This term in the pro-Kremlin media usually refers to the US and UK and often means “evil”, “belligerent” and “morally corrupt” Westerners, as explained in our earlier analysis.
Russia's unjustified military invasion of Ukraine is a clear violation of international law. The Ukrainian Army and volunteers are fighting with Russian troops to defend their country from unprovoked Russian military aggression. Russian President Putin launched a new invasion, what he called a "special military operation" against Ukraine on 24 February 2022 citing NATO’s military infrastructure approaching the Russian border as a pretext. Another pretext for the so-called operation is the “demilitarisation and denazification” of Ukraine according to official Russian statements. The invasion was followed by airstrikes on military objects. Russian troops soon after started bombing and shelling civilian targets as well.
Ukraine is a well-defined nation-state with a long history and its own literature and identity, despite foreign rule for long periods of time. Ukrainians and Russians belong to the Slavs ethnolinguistic group but they are not a single nation. The "all-Russian big nation" is an imperial Russian and Russian revanchist ideology that is a favoured pro-Kremlin narrative aimed at weakening the national identity of Ukrainians, as well as undermining the state sovereignty.
See similar disinformation narratives in our database: Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians are a single nation; Ukraine became a colony of the United States; Ukraine is a Western puppet that creates problems for Russia; Anglo-Saxons are on the edge of an anti-Russian attack.