DISINFO: The West provoked a new World War by using a neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine to destroy Russia.

DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS

  • Outlet: de.rt.com
  • Date of publication: May 06, 2026
  • Article language(s): German
  • Countries / regions discussed: Ukraine, Russia

DISINFO: The West provoked a new World War by using a neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine to destroy Russia.

SUMMARY

The immediate causes of the current world war came to light in the late 2000s.

Russia began fighting against the Kyiv regime without realising that the main adversary and source of the threat was the collective West, in particular the European elites, who were seeking to divert attention from their failures and – ideally – to avenge the historical defeats of the 20th century, foremost among them the defeat of the overwhelming majority of Europeans who had marched against the USSR under Hitler’s banners.

RESPONSE

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative accusing Ukraine's Western partners of historical revanchism and Russophobia. This claim was made in the context of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The West did not start a global world war, nor does it use Ukraine as a proxy to destroy Russia. The full-scale military invasion of Ukraine was initiated exclusively by the Russian Federation.

The Russian Federation invaded Ukraine on 22 February 2022 (before Russia had illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula and started an armed conflict in Donbas in 2014). It was this invasion what led other nations to provide massive support for Ukraine’s self-defence.

The US, the EU and NATO condemn in the strongest possible terms Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which is entirely unjustified and unprovoked. Not only Western support Ukraine with military and financial aid for the country’s efficient self-defence, in accordance with the UN Charter article 51, to stop Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.

The EU, the US and NATO condemns in the strongest possible terms Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which is entirely unjustified and unprovoked.

Furthermore, framing the democratically elected government in Kyiv as a “neo-Nazi regime” is a baseless pretext consistently used by Russia to legitimise its military actions against Ukraine. The claim that modern European elites are pursuing a revanchist agenda to avenge World War II defeats is a deliberate distortion of history. It falsely equates modern, democratic European institutions and nations with Nazi Germany to weaponize historical memory and artificially frame Russia's imperialistic expansion as a defensive, anti-fascist struggle. See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims The British are not happy with the outcome of WW2, because they planned to profit from Russian territories, The West wants to rewrite the history of WWII, that Ukraine is a broken toy for the West and it is ruining its finances, that the EU is in decline after following Anglo-Saxon orders against Russia, that at the behest of the US, Germany is preparing to attack Russia, or that the West is fighting Russia with the help of the Kyiv regime.

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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