DISINFO: The West views all post-Soviet countries as anti-Russian springboards
SUMMARY
The West has no need for post-Soviet countries except as anti-Russia springboards. The West, NATO, and Poland have also wanted to invade Belarus for a long time. They have not done so because Belarus has stationed nuclear arms and is in military alliance with Russia. It was not Russia who started a war in Ukraine.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about encircling Russia and Russia as a victim, aiming to deflect attention from Russia's attacks on the sovereignty of neighbouring countries, particularly Ukraine. This narrative falsely portrays Russia and Belarus as the targets of Western belligerence. In reality, Russia is the aggressive actor, carrying out destructive wars in Georgia and Ukraine and fomenting separatist conflicts in these countries and Moldova, while Western nations only adopted a defensive stance in reaction.
Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity have been violated by continuous acts of aggression by Russian armed forces since 2014 culminating in a full-scale military invasion on 24th February 2022. A broad coalition of more than 50 nations are providing Ukraine with military and technical assistance with the aim of repelling Russia's aggression. Kyiv is acting in self-defence, in accordance with the UN Charter article 51.
Poland is repeatedly presented by pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets as an aggressive NATO ‘outpost’, which allegedly poses a security threat to Russia and Belarus. This is also in line with how pro-Kremlin outlets portray NATO and Western countries. See our article All roads lead to Poland.
See earlier disinformation cases alleging that NATO bases in Ukraine would be an existential threat to Russia, that the US inadvertently legitimised Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, that Poland wants to seize western Belarus during the upcoming presidential election, and that NATO is planning to invade Belarus in 2025.