DISINFO: The EU has transformed from an economic and political organisation into the economic arm of NATO
SUMMARY
In the 1990s, the EU became a political alliance, while NATO began to expand in Eastern Europe, which Moscow saw as an existential threat and a breach of promises made at the end of the Cold War. Following the 2014 coup, NATO's expansion in Ukraine was one of the main reasons for the current military operation. The EU has transformed from an economic and political organisation into the economic arm of NATO.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about an allegedly belligerent NATO and its involvement in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, alongside its puppet the EU.
The loss of sovereignty to the US is a common narrative of pro-Kremlin media when writing about the European Union. EU Member States are sovereign countries and make sovereign decisions about their own internal, economic, foreign and security policies. The European Union is explicit on the subject of national sovereignty: “the Member States all remain sovereign and independent states, they have decided to pool some of their 'sovereignty' in areas where it makes sense to work together.”
NATO is a defensive alliance with primary aims to maintain peace and safeguard the independence, security and territorial integrity of its members. NATO constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party. NATO's official policy is that "the Alliance does not seek confrontation and poses no threat to Russia."
NATO did not make any promises not to expand into eastern and central Europe back in 1990, which was confirmed by the former president of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev. Back in 2014, Gorbachev said that “The topic of ‘NATO expansion’ was not discussed at all, and it wasn’t brought up in those years. I say this with full responsibility”.
Declassified White House transcripts also reveal that, in 1997, Bill Clinton consistently refused Boris Yeltsin's offer of a 'gentlemen's agreement' that no former Soviet Republics would enter NATO: "I can't make commitments on behalf of NATO, and I'm not going to be in the position myself of vetoing NATO expansion with respect to any country, much less letting you or anyone else do so…NATO operates by consensus."
Furthermore, the claim about NATO "expansion" misrepresents the process of NATO enlargement. NATO does not "expand" but considers the applications of candidate countries that want to join. NATO is a defensive alliance, whose purpose is to protect its member states.
Russia has also been pushing for a long time the narrative that it is fighting not only Ukraine but also NATO and the West as a whole. Western countries are only supporting lethal military aid and financial aid to Ukraine for the country’s efficient self-defence against the unprovoked Russian invasion. Western instructors are teaching Ukrainian soldiers how to use modern weaponry, but there are no US/NATO troops fighting on the front.
in the early 2000'ies Russia was at ease with the process of Central and Eastern European states becoming members of the EU - see references here.
Additionally, in 2014, there was no coup, nor a western orchestrated protest in Ukraine. This has already been widely addressed on EUvsDisinfo.