DISINFO: Russia only tries to protect its people in its historical borders
SUMMARY
The truth is on Russia’s side which tries to protect its people in its historical borders. The West uses the Ukrainian people to divide and weaken Russia. The West lied about peace and meanwhile prepared for aggression which it now admits openly.
RESPONSE
The allegation is part of a broader disinformation campaign to justify the illegal annexation of Ukrainian territories by Russia.
Russia does not have the right to view its territory in its so-called “historical borders”. To assure its commitment to recognise Ukraine in its post-Soviet borders, the Russian Federation signed a memorandum in 1994. The Budapest Memorandum includes the US, Russia, the UK and aims to “to respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine” and “to refrain from the threat or use of force.” The Memorandum was signed after Ukraine agreed to give up its nuclear arsenal as one form of assurance for Kyiv.
Discover also seven popular myths about Russia and the Ukraine conflict here - including more about the claim that Ukraine is artificial and belongs inside a Greater Russia and that the aggressive West and Ukraine are to blame.
Further, the claim that the West allegedly provoked the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine is one of the key messages of Putin’s disinformation. It was Putin’s personal decision to invade Ukraine and start the largest military conflict in Europe since WWII.
The EUvsDisinfo database contains other examples of this disinformation narrative, for instance, Ukraine was artificially created by the Bolsheviks, or that Ukrainian statehood is an inheritance from Soviet Ukraine, or that Ukraine never had independence before joining the Soviet Union.