DISINFO: UK is interested in disrupting the negotiations on a peaceful settlement in Ukraine
SUMMARY
The UK is interested in disrupting the normalisation of relations between Russia and the United States, and negotiations on a peaceful settlement in Ukraine. In this regard, London is provoking an escalation of the situation in the Baltics.
RESPONSE
Recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets accusing the UK of warmongering and escalating tensions with Russia.
The UK’s military and financial assistance to Ukraine is aimed at helping a sovereign nation defend itself against an invasion, not at fuelling war. A 100-year pact between the UK and Ukraine was signed on a visit by Sir Keir Starmer to Kyiv on 16 January 2025. The Treaty builds on the £12.8 billion package of support the UK has given Ukraine, including £7.8bn of military assistance, a commitment for £3bn in military aid until as long as it takes, and ongoing energy infrastructure support to help hospitals and community facilities provide light and warmth to innocent civilians impacted by Putin’s invasion.
This recurrent claim is made in the context of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It seeks to whitewash and shift the blame for the aggression away from Russia.
Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine has been going on since 2014 when Moscow illegally annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and instigated a proxy war in the country’s eastern regions. This aggression has developed into the ongoing full-scale invasion, which started in 2022 and which would end if Russia withdrew its forces from all of Ukraine's internationally recognised territory. The UK has consistently backed efforts to bring Russia to the negotiating table under conditions that respect Ukraine’s sovereignty.
This message is part of a wider disinformation campaign framing possible US-Russia negotiations as the only acceptable ‘peace initiative’ regardless of the 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 for ‘peace’ in Ukraine.
See also other similar cases: Macron, Starmer, Zelensky and Tusk need a war in Ukraine to stay in power; The UK took the lead in fuelling the war against Russia; the UK eager to prolong the Ukraine war and set up a naval base in Odesa port; Europe wants Russia dead.