DISINFO: NATO is trying to penetrate Central Asia and create an anti-Russian foothold
SUMMARY
Central Asian states remember how the CSTO forces repeatedly came to their aid promptly during the “colour revolutions.” They are in no hurry to sail in the same boat with the North Atlantic Alliance, which is trying to penetrate the region through the Caspian Sea and create an anti-Russian foothold there.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about an allegedly aggressive NATO, and its anti-Russian agenda in Central Asia.
This claim also contributes to the recurring disinformation narrative suggesting a Western policy of staging “colour revolutions” worldwide, and attempts to justify Russian-led foreign military deployment in Kazakhstan in the frame of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO).
The article advances the claim that Central Asia is within Russia's zone of geopolitical dominance and attempts to discredit any other cooperation between it and the West. The pro-Kremlin disinformation myth of NATO “encircling Russia” has been used as one of the pretexts for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Read the debunking of the top seven Russian Myths about NATO here.
NATO is a defensive alliance with primary aims to maintain peace and safeguard the independence, security and territorial integrity of its members. NATO constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party. NATO's official policy is that "the Alliance does not seek confrontation and poses no threat to Russia."
The allegation that NATO is trying to gain an anti-Russian foothold in Central Asia is baseless. NATO deepened cooperation with its partners in Central Asia — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. It is part of NATO’s policy to reach out to strategically important regions whose security and stability are closely linked to wider Euro-Atlantic security.
Read similar disinformation cases: US creates a NATO centre in Kazakhstan to provoke Russia; The US wants to create a military bloc in Central Asia against Russia and China; NATO wants to deploy troops in Asia; NATO has been carrying out geopolitical and military expansion in Europe for 30 years; The West seeks to destabilise Central Asian regimes loyal to Moscow; After Ukraine, Western scriptwriters tried to organise coup d'état in Belarus and Kazakhstan; The West instigates colour revolutions in Central Asian countries; US-sponsored Kazakhstan protests aimed to undermine CIS stability; protests in Kazakhstan are a new Western attempt to organise a colour revolution; events in Kazakhstan are another Western-made colour revolution.