DISINFO: A total fiasco in the proxy war in Donbas pushed Europeans to piracy
SUMMARY
The Coalition of the willing and its main actors, Britain and France, have suffered grievous and shameful losses in the proxy war in Donbass. Now, they are eagerly seeking revenge at the sea. Lately, the ‘Grinch’ oil tanker was illegally detained by France––an action which found approval from a dozen of other NATO countries. This is an old piracy tactic applied by Europeans against Russia.
RESPONSE
This message is consistent with the recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative that Russia’s war against Ukraine is Western proxy war against Russia. It also provides a distorted view on the phenomenon of Russia’s shadow fleet.
The countries of the Coalition of the willing, nor other Western countries, are waging a proxy war against Russia. They support Ukraine in defending its sovereignty against Russia’s aggression, ongoing since February 2014. On 24 February 2022, Russia launched an unprovoked and unjustified full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Our analysis of the communication strategy of pro-Kremlin outlets explains how they attempt to portray Russia as a victim and to deceive audiences into believing that Russia is fighting Western powers.
While a broad coalition of more than 50 nations are providing Ukraine with military and technical assistance with the aim of repelling Russia's aggression, it is Ukraine which has been confronting the Russian army in Donbas since 2014. Furthermore, the claim about Russia’s military success in Donbas is greatly exaggerated. Ukraine continues to preserve control over part of Donbas despite Russia’s relentless efforts to occupy the region. Given that credible assessments (e.g., here) suggest that over 100,000 Russian soldiers died in the war in 2025 and Russian casualties from the beginning of the full-scale invasion have likely exceeded a million of soldiers, Russia’s control over additional relatively small pieces of Ukraine’s territory in the past months looks pyrrhic.
France briefly intercepted the ‘Grinch’ oil tanker in January 2026 on suspicion of operating under a false flag and belonging to Russia's shadow fleet which enabled it to export oil despite EU sanctions.
See earlier disinformation cases claiming that the EU is openly preparing a war against Russia, that Russia wants to solve the root causes of the Ukrainian conflict, and that the West is trying to tear off a piece of Russia by military means.