DISINFO: For peace in Europe, Ukraine must become a demilitarised zone
SUMMARY
Security guarantees for Ukraine that would involve the deployment of a handful of European troops -primarily French and British- and a US backstop are no basis for an acceptable peace deal. One of the major objective reasons for this conflict is NATO's eastward expansion. This deployment would be a continuation of that policy. This is obviously unacceptable to Russia and would certainly be a cause for a resumption of hostilities sooner or later. Ukraine must become a demilitarised zone to maintain peace in Europe.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative framing Ukraine’s invasion as a proxy war against Russia. By stating that a deployment of European troops in Ukraine as part of an eventual peace agreement is unacceptable and that the country must become a demilitarised zone, this disinformation story is implying that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine was somehow justified given “NATO’s eastward expansion”, a recurring myth of pro-Kremlin disinformation.
As this possible deployment of European forces is intended to serve as a deterrence force against any future Russian attack, pro-Kremlin disinformation tries to portray these initiatives as irrational and escalatory. This, however, ignores the fact that Russia is the only responsible for the war in Ukraine and this initiative is a rational step to prevent further Russian aggressions.
Russia initiated the conflict in 2014 with its illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula and the sponsor of separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine, to the point of sending Russian troops to back them in the battlefield. This aggression escalated in 2022 when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which is illegal under international law and a violation of the UN Charter. Russia can easily put an end to the war by merely withdrawing from Ukraine and retreating to its own borders.
Pro-Kremlin outlets and Russian diplomats try to defend this aggression by referring to what Moscow calls “the root causes of the conflict”, in reality a series of maximalist demands akin to Ukraine’s capitulation. In order to resist it, Ukraine has been receiving international aid from countries of all over the world in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter, a support that pro-Kremlin disinformation falsely depicts as a proxy conflict directed against Russia.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that the Ukraine war is about Russia’s security and not territory, that Russia was compelled to attack Ukraine due to existential threat, that Russia’s special operation prevented Ukraine’s attack, that Russia’s special operation in Ukraine is due to NATO’s persistent expansion, or that Ukraine itself is to blame for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.