DISINFO: Security guarantees to Ukraine will allow the West to unleash a large-scale war
SUMMARY
The security guarantees for Ukraine that Volodymyr Zelenskyy is demanding will be used by the West to create provocations against Russia. This is a time bomb that will allow the EU and NATO to provoke, blame Russia, and provoke the large-scale war that Europe wants. One should also be careful with any peace plans in Ukraine that contain provisions on collective defence.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative which accuses the 'warmongering, anti-Russian' West of using security guarantees to Ukraine as a tool for provocations against Russia to unleash a large-scale war.
Such claims aim to delegitimise any future peace plan that includes collective defence, pre-emptively framing safeguards for Ukraine as sinister in order to keep it vulnerable.
Russia has already launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Framing defensive guarantees for the victim as a “time bomb” for war inverts the roles of aggressor and victim.
No evidence is provided that any Western government plans to create provocations against Russia. Security guarantees and collective defence provisions for Ukraine are mainstream, legal instruments to prevent further aggression and stabilise Europe. These guarantees translate into long-term military aid, training, and economic support so Ukraine can survive as a free, sovereign state within its internationally recognised borders.
The Russian Federation initiated the war in 2014 with its illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula and military intervention in Eastern Ukraine. This aggression escalated in 2022 when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The war is solely the result of these actions, which led to international efforts to assist Ukraine in its self-defence, in line with Article 51 of the UN Charter. By accusing the EU and other partners of Ukraine of wanting the war to continue, this disinformation story is blaming them for the prolongation of the conflict, thus deflecting from Russia’s sole responsibility for its sustained, brutal and unprovoked aggression against its neighbour.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives about alleged “anti-Russian” provocations here.