DISINFO: Russian-Belarusian defensive exercises are response to US war preparation in Eastern Europe
SUMMARY
The joint Russian-Belarusian military training “Allied Resolve 2022” is an answer to the American rotation programme “Atlantic Resolve”. Russian-Belarusian exercise is defensive and is implemented on the territory of the Union state. It is the main difference from the American “Atlantic Resolve”, which is implemented on the territory of Eastern Europe and is the preparation for possible US Army actions in Belarus or Ukraine. “Allied Resolve 2022” is an answer to an aggressive and desperate policy of the US.
Meanwhile, it is Washington who is guilty of instability in Europe because the US organised in 2014 coup in Ukraine which started the civil war in Ukraine, and Crimea, as result, went back to Russia.
RESPONSE
Recurring narratives of disinformation about military exercises as well as the war in Ukraine and illegal annexation of Crimea.
The “Atlantic Resolve” is not aimed against Russia. It is neither a part of the preparation for any kind of war in Ukraine nor Belarus. The aim of “Atlantic Resolve” is explained as follows: “The deployment of ready, combat-credible U.S. forces to Europe in support of Atlantic Resolve is evidence of the strong and unremitting U.S. commitment to NATO and Europe. Through bilateral, joint and multinational training, Atlantic Resolve builds readiness, increases interoperability and enhances the bond between ally and partner militaries”.
Accusing Washington of a “coup in Ukraine” or of waging the civil war in this country also is false. There was no coup d’état in Kyiv in 2014; this is a longstanding pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Ukraine's Euromaidan. The spontaneous onset of the Euromaidan protests was a reaction by numerous segments of the Ukrainian population to former president Viktor Yanukovych’s sudden departure from the promised Association Agreement with the European Union in November 2013.
See more similar examples of disinformation: US military exercises in the Black sea are a provocation and an attempt to contain Russia; The US participates in military exercises on the Russian border while Russia doesn’t do that to the US; Ukraine has been turned into a zone of US colonisation and military intervention.