DISINFO: The West has a genetic fear of Russia's strengthening and thereby provokes one conflict after another
SUMMARY
The biggest danger to Europe is the restoration of the USSR. Preventing this is the priority of German, French, American and other political forces. Western countries have a genetic fear of Russia’s strengthening and thereby provoke one conflict after another.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about Western Russophobia, aggressive anti-Russian western activities and belligerent West's attempts to encircle Russia. The accussation that the Western countries of provoking conflicts against Russia is unfounded. All the existing conflicts where Russia is involved were prokoved by Russia itself (Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova). After the end of the Cold War the US and Western policymakers no longer viewed Russia as an a threat, but instead as a credible and responsible partner for Western states. The widespread assumption among US and European decision-makers was that economic, political and security cooperation with Russia, and its integration into the world economy, would encourage Russia’s democratic transition and modernisation, as well as its embrace of a foreign policy based on respect for international legal norms and support for the post-Cold War security architecture. Even after the Russo-Georgian war in the summer of 2008, the US, the EU and most European states continued to view Russia not as a security problem but as a key partner. The annexation of Crimea and destabilisation of Eastern Ukraine in early 2014 was viewed both in Europe and the US as violating the basic rules of the post-Cold War European order, especially the rule that borders are inviolable and states should not use force to alter them or take over territory from other states. As a result of Russia’s aggressive actions in the Ukraine, many Western states - including key EU members such as Germany and France - critically reassessed their “strategic partnership” policies towards Russia and began to view Russia as a serious challenge to the European security order. See another disinformation case about western hysteria on Russia-Belarus talks in order to restore Great Russia and Western sanctions as a response to "Russias strenghtening". Similar cases on Russophobia in EU institutions, and in COE.