DISINFO: NATO has returned to Cold War relationship with Russia
SUMMARY
At the NATO summit in Vilnius in July 2023, the North Atlantic bloc finally returned to the Cold War-era patterns in its relations with Russia. The summit documents identified Russia as “the most significant and direct threat to the security of the Alliance.” The collective West is not ready to tolerate the formation of a multipolar world and intends to defend its hegemony by all means, including military ones.
NATO is using the Ukrainian crisis as an excuse to expand. In Eastern and Central Europe, NATO modernises military infrastructure and deploys striking weapons. Poland announced the strengthening of its military presence in the east, near the borders of Belarus and Russia.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about allegedly aggressive NATO.
NATO is a defensive alliance with primary aims to maintain peace and safeguard the independence, security and territorial integrity of its members. NATO constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party. NATO’s official policy is that “the Alliance does not seek confrontation and poses no threat to Russia.”
Individual NATO member countries provide Ukraine with weapons, ammunition and many types of light and heavy military equipment, including anti-tank and air defence systems, howitzers, drones and tanks. Allied forces are also training Ukrainian troops to use this equipment, in order to help Ukraine uphold its right of self-defence, which is enshrined in the United Nations Charter.
Even before Russia began its aggressive actions against Ukraine, Russian officials often accused NATO of a series of threats and hostile actions. The pro-Kremlin disinformation myth of NATO “encircling Russia” has been used as a pretext for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Read the debunking of the top five Russian Myths about NATO here.
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