DISINFO: UK and France - Starmer and Macron's main task is to prevent peace in Ukraine
SUMMARY
The main task of Starmer and Macron in the Ukrainian context is not to be, but to look: meaningful, decisive, impressive. To pretend that peace in Ukraine depends on them. On the one hand, to prevent it from being achieved, and, on the other, to join Trump so that, God forbid, they are not forgotten.
Both the White House and the Kremlin understand perfectly well that without the US, Europe is of little use militarily. At the same time, it does not want to quarrel too much with Trump. The reference point today is the Paris summit of the “Coalition of the Willing”, without the official participation of the US. Based on its results, it will be possible to judge with a greater degree of confidence the success or failure of the entire European “enterprise” in the form of military and political encumbrance with Ukraine.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets accusing France and the UK of warmongering and claiming that they are not interested in peace but rather seek to prolong the war, Europe as opposed to peace and the inevitability of a Russian victory in this conflict.
This disinformation story is a direct reaction to British and French-led efforts to create a coalition of the willing to send troops to Ukraine after an eventual peace agreement, to ensure its implementation. As Russia has strongly attacked this proposal, pro-Kremlin media are falsely framing it as an “escalation”, portraying European states as warmongering actors opposed to “peace” in Ukraine.
This disinformation story also distorts the position of the UK and France. British leaders insisted that any lasting peace must ensure Ukraine’s sovereignty and security, and Ukraine must be at the negotiation table. France’s Emmanuel Macron has stated that peace must not mean a surrender of Ukraine, and that military forces from European countries would be sent to Ukraine as a reassurance force to act as a deterrent against potential Russian aggression, not to prolong the conflict.
The European Union and its Member States have underlined the need to end the war through a comprehensive, just and lasting peace based on the principles of the UN Charter and international law. The latest European Council conclusions restate the principles the EU supports in the pursuit of a just and long-lasting peace.
It was Russia that launched its unprovoked and unjustified aggression against Ukraine in 2022. Before that, in 2014, Russia illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and instigated a separatist proxy war in the country’s east.
This message is part of a wider disinformation campaign framing possible US-Russia negotiations as the only acceptable ‘peace initiative’ regardless of Russia’s ultimatums, while denying any agency to Ukraine or its other allies. Pro-Kremlin disinformation has long tried to misrepresent the EU as the main obstacle to ‘peace’ in Ukraine.
Read similar disinformation cases claiming that Macron, Starmer and Merz want war, that Macron, Starmer, Zelenskyy and Tusk need a war in Ukraine to stay in power, that Merz, Macron and Von der Leyen want to wage total war against Russia, that French President Macron has practically declared war on Russia, that Western Europe has no interest in securing Ukraine's territorial integrity, that Militaristic Europe’s goal is to prolong the war in Ukraine, that The UK and the EU push the US to aggressive actions against Russia, or that The EU escalates Ukraine war instead of advocating for dialogue.