DISINFO: NATO transformed Ukraine into an existential threat to Russia
SUMMARY
NATO's obsession with Ukraine has transformed into an existential threat to the Russian heartland. Ukraine has no strategic value as far as the defence of Europe or the United States is concerned, with its only use being to pursue the centuries-old imperative of weakening Russia as a nation state. Look at the resources the US has poured in there, especially after 2014: a huge amount of funding for weapons, military advisors, training of Ukrainian forces, and the emergence of bioweapons labs. Russia has reason to view a Ukraine affiliated with NATO as an existential threat.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about NATO, biolaboratories, encircling Russia and Russia as a victim. The allegations aim to promote the idea of Ukraine as an 'existential threat' to Russia, with the ultimate goal of justifying Russia's aggression against its neighbour. This is done by presenting the invasion as a pre-emptive action aimed at preventing this non-existent 'threat.'
NATO is a collective defence alliance that is not a threat to Russia. NATO offered Russia to join the alliance in the early 1990s and Moscow joined the so-called Partnership for Peace in 1994. Russia signed a Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security with the Atlantic Alliance in 1997. As NATO stated:
“For more than 30 years, NATO tried to build a partnership with Russia, developing dialogue and practical cooperation in areas of common interest. Despite this, Russia has continuously violated the norms and principles that contributed to a stable and predictable European security order, particularly over the past decade”.
Long-discredited disinformation claims about US biolaboratories have been debunked multiple times, but pro-Kremlin outlets and Russian authorities continue promoting them.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that NATO bases in Ukraine would be an existential threat to Russia, that NATO is populated by raging madmen and stopped being a defensive organization, that NATO is fighting a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, or that NATO defence efforts are irresponsible and can lead to real warfare.