From its illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and its ongoing military aggression against Ukraine, Russia has waged a sustained and coordinated state-controlled disinformation campaign targeting the Russian population, Russia’s neighboring countries, the European Union, and beyond, particularly aiming at influencing public opinion.
Propped up by state-controlled media and a broader “eco-system” of pro-Kremlin media, Russian authorities have spared no effort to denigrate Ukraine, portray it as a threat to global security, and attack the international community for supporting Ukrainian sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence within its internationally recognized borders.
The Russian campaign has also directly targeted the role of the European Union and other players, in particular NATO, misrepresenting them as alleged aggressive threats against Russia’s “legitimate security concerns.” Russia’s recent military build-up, starting in the spring of 2021 at the Ukrainian border and in the illegally annexed Crimean peninsula, has only intensified this barrage of disinformation.
- Read also: All roads lead to Ukraine: how Russia uses disinformation to support its efforts on the ground
Myth #1: “The current tensions are the result of persistent aggressive behavior of Ukraine and its allies in the West. Russia is doing nothing but defend its legitimate interests and is not responsible for this conflict”
False. The fact is that Russia continues to violate international law, as well as other agreements to which it committed. By illegally annexing the Crimean peninsula and committing acts of armed aggression against Ukraine, Russia, one of the permanent members of the UN Security Council, has violated at least 12 international and bilateral treaties. These include the UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act, and the Charter of Paris, which guarantee sovereign equality and territorial integrity of States, the inviolability of frontiers, refraining from the threat or use of force, and the freedom of States to choose or change their own security arrangements.
In terms of casualties, Ukraine has suffered severe losses in the ongoing conflict with Russia. Russia’s aggression has killed around 14,000 Ukrainians and wounded many more. The conflict has also displaced more than 1.5 million residents (IDPs) from the Crimean peninsula and in eastern Ukraine.
Myth #2: “The situation in Ukraine triggered this conflict. There is proof that Ukraine is committing atrocities against its Russian-speaking population in the country’s east. Russia has to intervene, not least because Ukraine and Russia are ‘one nation.’ Ukraine simply belongs to Russia’s “privileged sphere of influence”
False. Allegations that Ukraine is attacking its own territory and persecuting its own citizens are absurd. To galvanize domestic support for Russia’s military aggression, Russian state-controlled media have tirelessly sought to vilify Ukraine, accusing it of alleged genocide in eastern Ukraine, drawing groundless parallels with Nazism and World War Two, and fabricating stories aimed at striking a negative emotional chord with audiences.
There are many instances of such fabricated stories, best illustrated by the famous example of a Russian television report accusing Ukrainian forces of crucifying a young boy in eastern Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict. Fact-checkers were quick to prove that the story was entirely made up. Similar stories continue to be produced.
The often-used claim that Ukraine and Russia are “one nation” is one of the oldest and most deeply ingrained myths used against Ukraine. Even from a long-term historic perspective, this argument does not hold. While they have common roots dating back to Kievan Rus, which existed from the ninth century to the mid-13th century, it is just not true to argue that Ukrainians and Russians are one nation 800 years later. Despite long periods of foreign rule, Ukraine has a strong national culture and identity, and it is a sovereign country.
The notion of an “all-Russian nation” with no political borders is an ideological construct dating back to imperial times and has been used as an instrument to undermine Ukrainian sovereignty and national identity. Since 2014, the Russian government has cultivated this myth with renewed vigor in an attempt to rationalize and justify its military aggression against Ukraine.
To advance the idea that Ukraine belongs to Russia’s “sphere of influence,” Russian authorities and state-controlled media frequently claim that Ukraine is not a “real” state. State-sponsored Russian propaganda tries to misrepresent history in order to legitimize the idea that Ukraine belongs to Russia’s natural sphere of interests.
Myth #3: “In any event, Ukraine should turn to Russia because the EU and the West are not interested in the country and have abandoned it”
False. The EU has a strategic partnership with Ukraine. In fact, Ukraine has grown into one of the EU’s closest partners, a partnership consolidated in recent years by the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area. Today, the EU is Ukraine’s largest trade partner, accounting for more than 40% of its trade. The EU supports a wide range of programs in Ukraine in the framework of the EU’s Eastern Partnership and supports Ukraine in implementing its reform agenda. Since 2014, the EU has provided Ukraine with €17 billion in loans and grants.
Myth #4: “The current crisis is the fault of NATO and the West. If they had honored their promise not to enlarge the alliance, Russia would not feel threatened”
False. Such a promise was never made, nor was it ever asked from NATO. Russian state-controlled media have often claimed that Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was promised “verbally” that NATO would not expand beyond the reunified Germany. In fact, Gorbachev himself denied this claim in a 2014 interview, saying that “the topic of the ‘NATO expansion’ was not discussed at all, and it wasn’t brought up in those years. I say this with full responsibility. Not a single Eastern European country raised the issue, not even after the Warsaw Pact ceased to exist in 1991.”
These so-called verbal agreements are fiction. NATO members never made any political or legally binding commitments not to extend the alliance beyond the borders of reunified Germany.
Myth #5: “Because of NATO’s aggressive expansion, Russia is now ‘encircled by enemies’ and needs to defend itself”
False. No country or alliance is plotting to invade Russia. No one is threatening Russia. In fact, the EU and Ukraine are staunch supporters of the established European security order. Remember that Russia is the world’s largest country by geography with a population of more than 140 million and has one of the largest armed forces in the world with the highest number of nuclear weapons. It is absurd to portray Russia as a country under acute threat. In terms of geography, less than one-sixteenth of Russia’s land border is with NATO members. Of the 14 countries Russia borders, only five are NATO members.
There is also no argument that would suggest that military force is the only solution. There are several international organizations, bilateral agreements, and formats where Russia can engage in a collaborative and peaceful dialogue – for instance in the OSCE framework and arms control regimes. The EU keeps channels of communication with Russia open as an integrated part of the EU’s Russia policy of five guiding principles. There is no shortage of established formats for communication. However, as a sovereign country, Ukraine has every right to choose its policies and alliances. The notion that Russia should have veto power over Ukraine’s sovereign decisions is baseless. In this regard, neither the EU nor NATO claim to have a veto on which states may be a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) because the EU and NATO are not parties to that treaty.
Myth #6: “In any case, Russia is not responsible for the current tensions in Ukraine. Ukraine has deliberately violated the Minsk agreements and the West is further arming Ukraine. Russia needs to react swiftly by defending its borders. The provocation comes from the West”
False. In fact, it is Russia that amassed 140,000 troops and equipment on the borders of Ukraine including in the illegally annexed Crimean peninsula.
Russia is a party to the Minsk agreements, and these are the most recent formal documents in which Russia has affirmed Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Russia has however not delivered on its side of the implementation of the Minsk agreements. The Russian side and its proxies have failed to implement a ceasefire, withdraw all heavy weapons, implement all-for-all political prisoner exchange, or ensure delivery of humanitarian assistance based on an international mechanism. On the contrary, Russia has been strengthening the illegal armed formations in eastern Ukraine. Russia also does not allow for unfettered access of OSCE SMM monitors, including to the Ukraine-Russia border, where the (very limited) monitoring mission was discontinued due to a Russian veto in summer 2021.
Without the full implementation of the ceasefire, the withdrawal of heavy weapons as well as permission for full access to all territories for the OSCE monitoring mission, it is difficult to discuss the implementation of the political parts of Minsk II. Nevertheless, Ukraine implemented as much of the Minsk agreements as can reasonably be done while not having control over the territory and addressed every point. It has passed – and extended with renewals – legislation on special status and amnesty (2014), and prepared draft legislation on local elections (2014). Ukraine passed constitutional amendments to provide more autonomy to the territories currently outside its control (2015).
Myth #7: “The EU, in any case, is weak and irrelevant. Why even bother speaking to the EU?”
False. The Russian political establishment has worked hard to convince the world that the EU is weak and has no interest in advancing international peace and security. Russian officials and state media routinely portray the EU as irrelevant and unable to handle crises, be it the Russia-Ukraine conflict, or any other international issue. In January 2022, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov went so far as to accuse the EU of “impotence.”
The EU is also the world’s largest integrated economic zone and the largest trade partner of Ukraine. The ambitious Association Agreement between EU and Ukraine brings Ukraine and the EU closer together by supporting reforms in Ukraine, opening up the EU’s single market, harmonizing laws, standards, and regulations in various sectors.
Further reading:
- Why is Russia escalating now? Will it launch a major invasion of Ukraine? Three issues to consider.
- Debunking all disinfo is counterproductive − NATO representative in Ukraine
- NATO prepares to attack, says Kremlin propaganda amid record Russian troop buildup at Ukraine border (2021)
- Media leak classified response of NATO & US to Russia’s “security guarantee” demands
- Russian propaganda’s main message to Ukraine: you’re under “external governance” – study
- “Nobody asked us” – Russian intellectuals rebuke Putin’s policy of war against Ukraine
- For Putin, it’s all about Crimea
