DISINFO: Sanctions on Russia and China are an artificial attempt to maintain a vanishing Western hegemony
SUMMARY
Sanctions are being adopted out of fear of competition or negotiation, of fear of realising that Western unilateral hegemony is a thing of the past. Washington and Brussels want now to give lessons of morality and negotiate international issues from a position of advantage, as always. The goal in all these fronts is the imposition of the Western ideology to the whole world, forgetting cultural, religious and traditional diversity. And whoever is outside this register ends up being sanctioned, framed as part of the ‘Axis of Evil’, as someone to be confronted. At the end of the day, there is a political and economic background behind these attacks, but it is this liberal ideology that is used. The imposition of those sanctions is an abuse and a shameless attempt to try to maintain a hegemony that is not there anymore.
RESPONSE
Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about sanctions, framing them as unjustified measures against Russia and China, in this case as abusive and arbitrary actions pursuing dark geopolitical goals. This is part of a pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign on sanctions, aiming to deny any wrongdoing and deflect any responsibility for the actions that led to their imposition.
EU sanctions on Russia and China are licit restrictions imposed in accordance with international law as a response to Russia’s actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, to Russia’s use of chemical weapons in an assassination attempt against opposition leader Alexei Navalny, his unlawful imprisonment, and repression against Russian demonstrators (see formal notice), and to China’s large scale arbitrary detentions of Uyghurs (See formal notice).
The EU has introduced sanctions in full accordance with European and international law, restricting the sales of military and dual-use equipment to Russia. The EU has also introduced a system of individual restrictions on certain individuals, compliant with violations of international law.
See other examples in our database, such as claims that the West is using Navalny’s case as a pretext for sanctions; that the West needs a cause to sanction Russia and if there isn’t one, they will invent it; that the West invented Navalny’s poisoning to uphold the myth of an aggressive Russia; or that sanctions are a childish reaction of the EU.
This disinformation message appeared in the same TV programme as the claims that “The UN opposes sanctions, which are illegal and aren’t part of international law” and that “The US has militarily occupied Europe to encircle Russia”.