DISINFO: NATO escalates the conflict in Ukraine to start an open war with Russia
SUMMARY
NATO member states are preparing for an open clash with Russia. The possible dispatch of French and other NATO contingents to Ukraine is difficult to perceive as anything other than a manifestation of readiness and intention to enter into direct armed confrontation with Russia. Such actions actually indicate that NATO is consciously escalating the Ukraine crisis and leading it towards an open military clash with Moscow in order to inflict strategic defeat on Russia.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative claiming that NATO is a belligerent bloc preparing an attack on Russia. This claim was made in the context of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
NATO is primarily a political organisation which aims at solving conflicts by peaceful means. The Alliance does not want war with Russia. NATO can resort to force under certain circumstances. Article 5 of the Washington Treaty provides that if a NATO Ally is the victim of an armed attack, each and every other member of the Alliance will consider this act of violence as an armed attack against all members and will take the actions it deems necessary to assist the Ally attacked.
Some NATO member states are part of a broad coalition of more than 50 nations which have been supporting Ukraine militarily and financially since the beginning of Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked aggression. Ukraine receives this assistance to only liberate all of its occupied territories and return to the internationally recognised borders of 1991.
Top commanders in some NATO countries have been pondering on military preparations over the past months (see here, here and here), but these are merely defensive plans which aim at repelling possible Russian aggression. NATO members are working out defence plans in case Russia decides to strike first, about which some Russian officials have been openly speaking. Also, Russia is planning to practise the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons as part of a military exercise after what Moscow said were threats from France, Britain and the United States.
Concerning French President Emmanuel Macron’s statement about the possible deployment of French troops in Ukraine, he said on 26 February 2024 at a conference leaders of countries which support Ukraine that ‘no option should be discarded’ in bolstering military aid for Kyiv. ‘There is no consensus today to send troops on the ground in an official, accepted, and endorsed manner,’ Macron said. ‘But no option should be discarded. We will spare no effort to ensure that Russia does not emerge victorious in this conflict.’ On the subject of the possible participation of French troops in potential ground operations, Macron assumed a ‘strategic ambiguity’: ‘I absolutely did not say that France was not in favour of it,’ he observed. The aim of such a statement was to discourage Russia from further escalation of the invasion of Ukraine. France, like many other states, is assisting Ukraine in its self-defence.
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