Disinfo: Ukraine should not join NATO because Ukrainians and Russians are one nation

Summary

Membership of Ukraine in NATO is the red line for Russia. Russia should not allow Ukraine to become a member of the Alliance because Ukrainians and Russians are one nation. Membership of Ukraine in NATO will create conditions for civil war. The US is especially interested in it.

Disproof

A recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about the all-Russian nation and the Russian world/civilisation. In this case, the narrative is used in the context of Ukraine's possible NATO membership.

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.

Membership in NATO will not create conditions for war between Ukraine and Russia. NATO is a defensive alliance and its purpose is to guarantee the freedom and security of its members through political and military means. Ukraine is a sovereign state, free to decide its political orientation incl. on international organisations and military alliances. Its relationship with NATO dates back to 1991.

Pro-Kremlin outlets often recur to the claims that Ukrainians and Russians (as well as Belarusians) are one nation. See similar cases here, here and here.

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publication/media

nk.org.ua (Archived)
RIA (Archived)
sputniknews.lt (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 264
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 24/10/2021
  • Article language(s) Russian, Lithuanian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Ukraine, Russia, US
  • Keywords: Ukrainian statehood, Russian world, NATO, EU/NATO enlargement, Civil war
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Disinfo: The civil war in Ukraine started because of NATO

The civil war in Ukraine started precisely because of NATO. [...] The Anglo-Saxons have staged a coup d'état in Ukraine, put their puppets in power and turned Ukraine itself into an "anti-Russia" project that poses a real threat on its borders. [...] When I hear from our puppet government that Ukraine is NATO's eastern front, I realise that these puppets are not serving Ukraine, but NATO's interests.

Oct 23, 2021
Disproof

Two interconnected recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives are used in this piece. One about the war in Ukraine, claiming that Russia is not part of the conflict in Donbas, and that NATO is responsible for it, i.e. that Russia has nothing to do with the war in eastern Ukraine and presenting the conflict as a “civil war”, started by NATO. The other is about an alleged anti-constitutional coup in Ukraine in 2014; this is a longstanding pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Ukraine's Euromaidan protests.

The spontaneous onset of the Euromaidan protests was a reaction from several segments of the Ukrainian population to former President Yanukovych’s sudden departure from the promised Association Agreement with the European Union in November 2013, after pressure from Russia. See the full debunk: The Western-backed coup in Ukraine has torn the country asunder.

Disinfo: The West tries to destroy the economy of Belarus, seizes any opportunity to pressure Belarusians

European and American politicians do not consider it possible to abandon sanctions while striving to destroy the economy of Belarus.

The 4th package and sectoral sanctions introduced in June by the EU and the 5th list of restrictions being prepared in Brussels today confirm the thesis that the sanctions are no longer about protecting the rights and freedoms of Belarusians. The West seizes any opportunity in order to annoy Belarusian authorities.

Oct 23, 2021
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the belligerent West, particularly the EU, trying to destabilise and destroy Belarus.

The EU did not recognise the falsified results of the Belarusian Presidential election on 9 August 2020, nor the new mandate claimed by Alyaksandr Lukashenka. Since October 2020, the EU has progressively imposed restrictive measures against Belarus. The measures were adopted in response to the fraudulent nature of the presidential elections in Belarus, and the intimidation and violent repression of peaceful protesters, opposition members and journalists.

Disinfo: Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is meeting his masters

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is visiting Washington and he will meet US President Joe Biden in the White House. This is not a surprise as the Americans were behind Bartholomew's decision to grant autocephaly to the schismatic Church of Ukraine in order to split Ukraine from Russia.

Oct 23, 2021
Disproof

Pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets frequently attack the establishment of an autocephalous Ukrainian church.

The Constantinople Patriarchy, not the US, decided to grant the autocephaly to the Ukrainian church. The final decision was made in January 2019, when all members of the Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate signed off the Tomos of autocephaly. The signing of the Tomos happened after years of deliberations as well as careful preparations and considerations by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the Holy Synod.