Disinformation Roulette: The Kremlin’s Year of Lies to Justify an Unjustifiable War - United States Department of StateIt's only lies lies and more lies from the kremlin...
The truth:One of the earliest Kremlin-fabricated justifications for war is the false claim that NATO and “the West” are aggressors threatening Russia’s security. For months leading up to February 24, 2022, Russia demandedsecurity guaranteesincluding restrictions on countries’ joining NATO, a position which rejected Ukraine’s and other countries’ sovereign right to choose their own foreign policy. As Moscow amassed up to190,000 troopson Ukraine’s border, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spread disinformation to cloud the Kremlin’s intentions,claimingRussia’s troops were not on the border with Ukraine while accusing the United States and allies ofwhipping up hysteria. President Putin falsely blamed NATO for the escalating tensions, claimed he wasnot planning an invasion, and accused the United States of using Ukraine as a “tool to contain Russia.” Aiming to deflect the blame, disinformationoutletslinked to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), Military Intelligence Directorate (GRU), and Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) amplified the false claims, calling the warnings by the United States and NATO about the potential for a military offensive by Russia against Ukraine “western hysteria” to “drag Ukraine into war.”
Over the year of war, the Kremlin shifted this disinformation narrative of Western effortspushing for the warto one arguing that by helping Ukraine to defend itself, the United States and NATO areprolonging or escalating the war. Following a November 2022 NATO Ministerial Meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrovclaimedthe “global majority” understands the threats posed by NATO,blamingthe Alliance for allegedly pushing Ukraine to continue the war. Disinformation outlets, such as the FSB-taskedNews Front and state-runSputnik, both cited alleged “experts” who argued that by pledging further aid to Ukraine, NATO was “pouring oil on fire.” The SVR-directedStrategic Culture FoundationandOriental Reviewwarned that Ukraine will try to “drag NATO into a war within Ukraine’s borders” and claimed to have proved that NATO provoked the conflict in Ukraine.
The Kremlin resurrects this disinformation narrative whenever Ukraine’s partners announce more military assistance to Ukraine. The latest twist accuses NATO of Russophobia after the United States and Germany agreed to provide modern M1 Abrams and Leopard tanks to Ukraine. Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov parrotedthis narrativein January 2023 claiming, “NATO with maniacal persistence … consistently crawled up to the Russian borders, at the same time zombifying our neighboring countries with Russophobic horror stories.”
Russia spreads disinformation portraying NATO as the aggressor to obfuscate the facts. Russia alone started this war, not Ukraine. Russia is the aggressor, not NATO. As U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinkenstatedto the United Nations Security Council on September 22, 2022, “If Russia stops fighting, the war ends. If Ukraine stops fighting, Ukraine ends.”
The lies:NATO “encirclement” and Russia “is not the aggressor”
