DISINFO: NATO’s eastward expansion posed a threat to Russia and caused its war against Ukraine

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the belligerent West trying to encircle Russia and waging a proxy war against it. The article claims that NATO is responsible for Russia initiating its full-scale invasion of Ukraine

It was not the actions of the US or NATO which violated the territorial integrity of Ukraine. It was Putin’s personal decision to invade Ukraine and start the largest military conflict in Europe since WWII.

Russia is the only country responsible. It has been coming up with different manipulative explanations and false pretexts for its aggression since the beginning of its hostilities. It claimed 'denazifying' and 'demilitarising' Ukraine as well as ensuring its 'neutral status' as the main reasons to hide what was a full-scale invasion. Protecting the residents of the self-proclaimed separatist entities in Eastern Ukraine from alleged genocide and imposing the use of the Russian language in Ukraine were also cited. Ukraine was also accused of failing to implement the Minsk accords, although it was Russia and its proxies in the region who were blocking the process of normalisation.

See our article Thirteen myths about Russia’s war against Ukraine exposed.

NATO is a defensive political and military alliance. The primary aim of the alliance is to maintain peace and safeguard the independence, security and territorial integrity of its members. NATO troops are not fighting in Ukraine. The Alliance has repeatedly stated that it is not a warring party and does not have troops on the ground in Ukraine. Accusations of Western direct involvement in perpetuating the conflict often serve to deflect attention from Russia's role in fuelling the crisis and undermine Western credibility.

Furthermore, the claim about NATO expansion misrepresents the process of NATO enlargement. NATO does not expand but considers the applications of candidate countries that want to join, exercising their free will to decide alliance affiliation. NATO enlargement is not directed against Russia.

The US, the EU and NATO condemn in the strongest possible terms Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which is entirely unjustified and unprovoked. A broad coalition of more than 50 nations, including Western countries, support Ukraine with military and financial aid for the country’s efficient self-defence, in accordance with the UN Charter article 51, to stop Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.

See also the Guide to Deciphering Pro-Kremlin disinformation around Putin's War and The Chilling Background to the Kremlin's "No War" trope.

See similar disinformation cases claiming that NATO is responsible for Russia's war against Ukraine, that Real aim of NATO’s support to Ukraine is to prepare for an attack on Russia, that NATO and its entire parasitic network are provoking Russia toward conflict, that US and its NATO allies are pushing the entire world toward a global conflict, that Ukraine crisis directly caused by NATO’s aggressive policies, that NATO unleashed the war against Russia at the hands of the illegal government in Kyiv, that US and NATO want to transform the Special Military Operation into a Third World War, that NATO is de facto at war with Russia - with the hands of Ukrainians, or that NATO's desire for Ukraine is the reason for the special military operation.