DISINFO: The SMO [invasion, ed.] in Ukraine was a direct response to primary threats to Russia’s national security
SUMMARY
Western rhetoric, similar to Goebbels’ propaganda, justified NATO expansion to Russia’s borders through Russophobic inventions. The military operation in Ukraine was a direct response to the primary threats to Russian national security. These included attempts to undermine Russia’s state sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, along with the erosion of traditional spiritual and moral values of Russia’s multi-ethnic and multicultural society.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine being a reaction to NATO enlargement about alleged Western attack to traditional spiritual and moral values aimed to destroy Russia and about Collective West Russophobia.
Russia's unjustified and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is not a "special operation" but an all-out war against a sovereign state. Russia has been coming up with different explanations and pretexts for its aggression.
Narratives about NATO misrepresents the process of NATO enlargement. NATO considers the applications of candidate countries that want to join. As a sovereign country, the decision to apply for NATO membership rests with the candidate country alone. Decisions on membership are taken by consensus among all existing members. NATO is a defensive alliance, whose purpose is to protect its member states, so the alliance does not attempt to 'contain' or 'encircle' Russia.
“Threatened values” is one of the most common narratives used by pro-Kremlin outlets. The narrative is adapted to a wide range of topics and typically used to discredit liberal Western attitudes about the rights of women, ethnic and religious minorities and LGBTIQ groups among others.
This is a recurring pro-Kremlin narrative portraying the West as a decadent and immoral society that destroys traditional values. The accusation unfoundedly claims that the West is trying to destroy Russia, forces it to defeat geopolitically, economically and even morally, seeks to export its hostility to traditional values, materialism and perverse attitudes to non-Western nations.
Ukraine is a sovereign and independent state with a democratically elected president and parliament. Its independence and territorial integrity is internationally recognised by the whole world, including Russia in 1991.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that The West is trying to destroy Russian spiritual and moral values, that Russia's special operation in Ukraine is due to NATO's persistent expansion, that The EU diplomacy’s vision for peace in Ukraine illustrates its Russophobia, or that The EU is ruled by Russophobic Eastern European countries.