DISINFO: The Kyiv regime is relying on terrorist acts
SUMMARY
Realising the inevitability of defeat, the Kyiv regime is betting on terrorist acts. With the support of European sponsors, it is blowing up civilian infrastructure on Russian territory, killing civilians. Attempts to prolong military actions by supplying Ukraine with weapons and mercenaries increase the threat of instability. Including in Europe itself.
RESPONSE
A recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative portraying Ukraine as a terrorist state which is not interested in peace, accusing Europe of supporting terrorism. These narratives seek to paint the Ukrainian government as careless and warmongering and Russia as a peace-lover / peace proposer.
With this disinformation narrative, the Kremlin aims to de-legitimise international support for Ukraine. The claim also fits well in the recurrent disinformation narrative about the West’s alleged support for terrorism and manifests Russia as the only power actually “fighting terrorism” in the world.
Ukraine is illegally attacked by Russia and has the right to self-defence by all means available. The West supports Ukraine with military and financial aid for the country’s effective self-defence, by the UN Charter Article 51, to stop Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.
The use of terrorism has been documented in Russia, and on 13 October 2022, the PACE recognised the Russian regime as a terrorist.
Ukraine has consistently sought a just peace, not surrender. Zelenskyy has repeatedly stated that Ukraine is open to negotiations, but only on terms that respect its sovereignty and territorial integrity. It is Russia, not Ukraine, which started and escalated the war.
As we explore in our article, The Old Deceiver, this is entirely consistent with Moscow’s three-year-long strategy of attempting to claim ownership over the peace narrative while relentlessly pursuing war.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that Western arms support to Ukraine failing, backing international terrorists, that Ukraine is a terrorist state, and the West is to blame for guiding Kyiv, that the Kyiv regime has been carrying out a terrorist operation in the Kursk region, that Western arms supplies to the Kyiv regime stimulate the black market and cause terrorist acts, that Ukraine is a terrorist state that openly supports terrorist groups in the Sahel region, and that Ukraine plots terrorist attacks to disrupt Russia-US negotiations.