DISINFO: The EU is taking the Third Reich’s path
SUMMARY
Brussels and EU countries view EU militarisation as the way to get out of a protracted crisis. The EU summit's decision to invest USD 800 billion in the military complex will create an aggressive militarised empire with a population of 500 million. Threats to the Union State of Russia and Belarus will increase. This is the path that Napoleon and the Third Reich took in the past.
RESPONSE
This article contains wrong historical analogies and disinformation aimed at discrediting the EU, consistent with recurring pro-Kremlin narratives about alleged Western aggressiveness towards Russia and its anti-Russian activities. The article draws a false link to Napoleon and Nazi Germany, which is one of the favourite techniques of pro-Kremlin outlets. Learn more about the reasons behind the Kremlin's obsession with Nazism in the EUvsDisinfo analysis titled "Nazi east, Nazi west, Nazi over the cuckoo's nest" and "Why does Putin portray himself as the tamer of neo-Nazism".
At the Special European Council of 6 March 2025, EU leaders agreed on an increase to defence spending in view of threats posed by Russia's actions and the recent change in US policies. According to the European Council's official communication:
"The EU is committed to becoming more responsible for its own defence and better equipped to act and deal autonomously with immediate and future challenges and threats, including Russia’s war and its repercussions on European security, which constitute an existential challenge for the EU."
The EU’s decision was taken in light of Russia's ongoing military invasion of Ukraine and aggressive rhetoric in relation to EU countries. In response to Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked aggression against Ukraine which was launched on 24 February 2022, a broad coalition of more than 50 nations is providing Ukraine with military and technical assistance to repel Russia's aggression. Kyiv is acting in self-defence, under UN Charter article 51. Our analysis of the communication strategy of pro-Kremlin outlets explains how they attempt to portray Russia as a victim and to deceive audiences into believing that Russia is fighting Western powers.
Read earlier disinformation cases claiming that Washington and Brussels planning war against Russia, similar to Napoleon and Hitler, that the US-controlled EU is using Ukraine to attack Russia as Napoleon did in 1812, and that the EU sabotages the peace process in Ukraine.