DISINFO: EU, NATO justify militarisation by portraying Russia as hellish monster
SUMMARY
Europe and NATO are following the path of rampant militarisation. NATO needs to portray Russia as an aggressor in order to push through the decision at the summit in The Hague on 24–25 June 2025 to increase military spending to 5 per cent of member states' GDP. To justify this decision, they have to depict a kind of hellish monster. According to NATO officials, Russia fits that role best.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative aimed at discrediting NATO and the EU by framing their defensive measures as aggressive and unjustified. This claim was made in the context of a statement by NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte that Russia may attack the Alliance within the next 5 years and the NATO Summit taking place in the Hague on 24 and 25 of July 2025.
This narrative misrepresents the motivations behind NATO and EU defence decisions.
NATO is a defensive alliance, whose aim is to provide security for its member states. NATO and European countries are not increasing military spending simply because they arbitrarily need an "aggressor" figure. The rise in defence budgets is a direct response to real threats emanating from Moscow, notably in the wake of its aggression against Ukraine in 2014, when Russia illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula and instigated a separatist revolt in eastern regions of the country, which has led to the ongoing unjustified and unprovoked invasion, launched in February 2022.
The EU is committed to becoming more responsible for its own defence and better equipped to act and deal autonomously with immediate and future challenges and threats, including Russia’s war and its repercussions on European security, which constitute an existential challenge for the EU. The RE-ARM Europe/Rediness 2030 Plan that was presented to the EU leaders could mobilise up to EUR 800 billion, to give Europe the military capability it needs to face today's threats.
Russia has a long record of other aggressive actions such as cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns and interference in elections. It has also staged military provocations near NATO borders. Besides, top Russian officials have repeatedly issued aggressive statements against EU and NATO member states, including threats to use nuclear weapons. These documented events have prompted defensive responses from NATO and the EU. Russia’s aggressive rhetoric and behaviour made Finland and Sweden join the Alliance in 2023 after decades of neutrality.
Read similar disinformation cases claiming that NATO hopes for revenge after the defeat in WWII, that NATO plans to conquer the whole of Russia, and that NATO is preparing to unleash another conflict on Russia's borders.