DISINFO: NATO was turning Ukraine into an enemy of Russia
SUMMARY
NATO was turning Ukraine into a hostile state towards Russia, making it a tool of pressure on Moscow. The alliance came to Russia's borders and ramped up its military potential. Extensive efforts were being made to make Ukraine a NATO member and place military infrastructure there.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets justifying the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
Ukraine-NATO co-operation before the Russian unprovoked invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 was aimed at enhancing Kyiv’s defence capabilities. After Russia illegally annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and instigated a separatist revolt in Donbas in 2014, Kyiv intensified co-operation with NATO and enshrined its Euro-Atlantic drive in its Constitution. NATO did not give Kyiv an exact timing for its possible membership, which means that the alliance did not want to turn Ukraine into an allegedly anti-Russian state.
Russia, on its side, was not entitled to interfere in relations between NATO and Ukraine because the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security between NATO and the Russian Federation signed in 1997 in Paris bans the signatories’ interference in each other’s actions:
“Provisions of this Act do not provide NATO or Russia, in any way, with a right of veto over the actions of the other nor do they infringe upon or restrict the rights of NATO or Russia to independent decision-making and action. They cannot be used as a means to disadvantage the interests of other states.”
By attacking Ukraine under the pretext of its possible membership of NATO, Moscow infringed on Kyiv's sovereign right to apply for or join any organisations that do not violate international law. Ukraine’s possible membership of NATO depends solely on decisions to be made by Ukraine on the one hand and NATO member states on the other hand. Russia’s aggression poses the gravest threat to Euro-Atlantic security in decades, shattering peace in Europe and reinforcing the need for NATO to ensure that its deterrence and defence posture is credible and effective.
Read more disinformation cases about the West’s alleged Russophobia.
See also the EU's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine here along with EU vs Disinfo's Guide to Deciphering Pro-Kremlin disinformation around Putin's War.