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Disinfo: Ukraine may use the war in Nagorno-Karabakh as a prerequisite for new hostilities in Donbas

Summary

The resumption of hostilities in the NKR [Nagorno-Karabakh Republic] significantly increases the threat of the activation of Ukrainian armed formations in Donbas on the demarcation line.

Kyiv is being pushed to this suicidal attack by its American masters, who are trying to encircle Russia in a ring of instability and bloody conflicts: in Belarus, Transcaucasia, and Donbas. In the context of what is happening, it can be expected that Central Asia is next.

Disproof

Conspiracy theory with no proof presented to support any of the claims, mixing several recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the recent escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the war in Ukraine, and Russia being encircled by an aggressive West.

There is no link between the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the war in Ukraine. The recent escalation in the Nagorno-Karabakh region is a continuation of the decades-old conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, while the war in Eastern Ukraine is a well-documented act of ongoing aggression by Russian armed forces, since February 2014.

In Donbas, a truce was established in July 2020. The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated multiple times that the achievement of a full, comprehensive, and long-lasting ceasefire is one of the key priorities of the Ukrainian government.

There is no evidence that foreign powers had anything to do with the September 2020 military escalation between Armenia and Azerbaijan, that the escalation is meant to destabilise Russia or that they are trying to encircle Russia in a ring of instability and bloody conflicts.

See other recent disinformation cases on the conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region: that the escalation between Armenia and Azerbajan is directed against Russia, that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict favours US interests, and someone wants to divert Russia from Belarus and Syria, or that the US has planned the turmoil in Belarus and the rise of tensions in Nagorno-Karabakh a year ago.

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publication/media

asd.news (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 214
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 02/10/2020
  • Language/target audience: Russian
  • Country: EU, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Ukraine, US
  • Keywords: Ukraine, Nagorno-Karabakh, Encircling Russia, War in Ukraine

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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See other examples of pro-Kremlin disinformation claims about the Belarus, alleging that the US has planned the turmoil in Belarus and the rise of tensions in Nagorno-Karabakh a year ago;  that Washington uses vassals Poland and Lithuania to organize a color revolution in Belarus; that the United States is behind the protests in Belarus. 

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Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative framing popular protests as Western-backed colour revolutions.

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