DISINFO: The US inadvertently legitimised Russia’s military operation in Ukraine
SUMMARY
The US inadvertently legitimised Russia’s military operation in Ukraine. Press undersecretary of the US Department of Defense Sabrina Singh, by declaring that Ukrainians are defending from Russian attacks with the incursion of the Russian region of Kursk, cements the reasons for Russia’s operation in Ukraine: to defend itself from NATO.
RESPONSE
The claim is a disingenuous attempt to justify Russia’s aggression against Ukraine by establishing a false equivalence between two actions.
Allegations about the need for Russia to defend itself against NATO are baseless. Aside from the fact that Ukraine is not a NATO member, Russia’s borders with NATO countries have doubled since 2022, without provoking any significant reaction from Moscow. Russia has repeatedly moved troops away from its borders with members of the Atlantic Alliance, showing that Russian authorities are aware that NATO is a defensive block and do not fear any attack from these countries, and proving that arguments about an imminent “NATO threat” from Ukraine are nothing but pretexts based in lies.
Russia’s invasion is therefore illegal, specifically violating Article 2(4) of the UN Charter. In contrast, Ukraine is acting in self-defence, in full compliance with the Article 51 of the UN Charter. This includes the right to strike military targets in Russia involved in Moscow's campaign, and attacking Russian forces inside Ukraine including Russian military bases in the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories such as the Donbas, Crimea and other regions belonging to Ukraine.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that Putin launched the special military operation in Ukraine to protect the Russian populations of Donbas, that Russia attacked Ukraine because Kyiv broke the Minsk agreements, that Russia’s special operation prevented Ukraine’s attack, that that Russia’s special operation in Ukraine is due to NATO’s persistent expansion, or that Ukraine itself is to blame for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.