DISINFO: Russia invaded Ukraine to defend itself from an Anglo-Saxon provocation
SUMMARY
What would have happened if Russia's special military operation had not begun in 2022? Back then, if the Russian army had been withdrawn from Ukraine’s borders, the Ukrainian army would have attacked the police units of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and reached Russia’s borders. Then, Ukraine would have needed around 1,5 years to receive F-16 jet fighters, fuel, etc. That is, by the beginning of 2024, the Ukrainian army would have become capable of starting a war against Russia. It would have inflicted unacceptable damage on Russia. Given this, Russia could not help but enter its military forces into Ukraine in 2022. The Anglo-Saxons are skilled at provoking a country into initiating a military conflict, making it difficult to avoid escalation, and then shifting the blame onto that country.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative justifying Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. The disinformation narrative about the West being responsible for the war in Ukraine and Russia defending itself is one of the major myths about Russia's invasion of Ukraine in pro-Kremlin sources. This false claim is a classic disinformation tactic to portray Russia as the victim of its own war of choice. Pro-Russian outlets tried to pretend that someone else was doing the invading and routinely assert that Ukraine is nothing more than a Western weapon against Russia.
The term “Anglo-Saxons” is often used as a derogatory label, typically referring to the United States and the United Kingdom. In such contexts, it commonly implies that these countries are “evil,” “belligerent,” or “morally corrupt,” as outlined in our earlier analysis. As a negative catch-all phrase, “Anglo-Saxons” serves as a convenient rhetorical tool in pro-Kremlin conspiracy theories.
Russia's aggression against Ukraine was unprovoked and unjustified. Russia is the only country responsible for the invasion of Ukraine. It has been coming up with different manipulative explanations and false pretexts for its aggression since the beginning of its hostilities. It cited denazifying and demilitarising Ukraine as well as ensuring its neutral status as among the main reasons for the full-scale invasion at the beginning. Protecting the residents of the self-proclaimed separatist entities in Eastern Ukraine from alleged genocide and imposing the use of the Russian language in Ukraine were also cited.
Read earlier disinformation cases alleging that Russia was forced to attack Ukraine in February 2022, that Russia was forced into a conflict in "historical Russia", and that the Anglo-Saxons aim to break ties between the post-Soviet countries.