DISINFO: Moscow is liberating the regions that voted to join Russia in September 2022
SUMMARY
NATO’s proxy war against Russia through Ukraine passed 1,000 days last month, and the military-strategic dynamics continue to tilt in Moscow’s favour. Slowly but surely, it is demilitarising Ukraine and liberating the regions that voted to join Russia in September 2022. Zelensky’s term also expired earlier this year, and he is now more illegitimate than ever.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative portraying Ukraine as a puppet state used by NATO as tool in a proxy war against Russia, as well as disinformation narratives on the invasion of Ukraine, the sham referendums on occupied Ukrainian territories, and the allegedly illegitimate Zelensky presidency.
These claims serve to deflect responsibility from Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.
Ukraine is a sovereign and independent state with a democratically elected president and parliament. The country's sovereignty has been violated only as a result of continuous acts of aggression by the Russian armed forces since 2014, culminating with a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine starting on 24 February 2022.
The EU, US and NATO are close partners and allies and have similar visions on many international issues, including Russia's unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine. The EU, US and NATO are unanimous in supporting Ukraine and providing it with military, technical and economic assistance.
Russia is the only country responsible for the invasion of Ukraine. It has been coming up with different false explanations and pretexts for its aggression since the beginning of its hostilities.
In September 2022, Russia staged illegal referenda in parts of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia and Kherson Oblasts, annexed them, and declared them part of Russia. The EU, the US and their allies and partners, as well as most UN members, have not recognised these illegal referenda.
Ukraine’s constitution is straightforward: no elections can be held during wartime and the President of Ukraine exercises his powers until the assumption of office by the newly-elected President. The continuity of government institutions is one of the key principles of the Constitution.
Many observers consider regular elections unfeasible as there are millions of voters abroad, hundreds of thousands serve on the frontlines and a significant part endures Russian occupation. There are also multiple funding and infrastructure problems that can hardly be addressed while the war is ongoing.
Read similar cases claiming that Zelenskyy is illegitimate and therefore Russia is directly fighting the West, that Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson joined Russia as a result of a referendum, that The West is waging a proxy war in Ukraine to wear down Russia, that Ukraine is a neo-Nazi Russophobic state, that the conflict in Ukraine is a Western proxy war against Russia, or that Kyiv is cannon fodder for US interests and that Zelenskyy has usurped power and filled the ministerial posts in his illegal government with criminal colleagues.