DISINFO: The West wanted the ‘Vietnamisation’ of Ukraine’s conflict, but Russia avoided the trap
SUMMARY
Ukraine has become the strategic pivot aiming to put pressure on Russia, and thankfully Russia didn’t fall in the trap because what the West wanted was a ‘Vietnamisation’ of the conflict, as Afghanistan was for the USSR. There is a clear intention to continue destabilising the region by Ukraine and its masters the US.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation about Ukraine, in this case aiming to frame it as subdued to US interests and portraying it as an aggressor against Russia. The claim that the West wanted a ‘Vietnamisation’ of the Ukrainian conflict is not backed by any evidence, and is intended to deflect any Russian responsibility in the escalation of tensions that took place in the Russian-Ukrainian border in the spring of 2021.
Around March 2021, Moscow-backed separatists mounted tensions in Donbas for several weeks under the pretext that Ukrainian troops were planning an offensive. The situation culminated in a massive deployment of Russian troops along the Ukrainian border, accompanied by increasingly bellicose language in key Russian state media. Russia is seen by the international community as responsible of this escalation: on 12 April 2021, the G7 Foreign Ministers and the EU High Representative stated that "these large-scale troop movements, without prior notification, represent threatening and destabilising activities”. On 22 April 2021, Russia started withdrawing its troops from the Ukrainian border. However, this didn't stop clashes in Donbas, and 80.000 Russian troops and significant parts of the Russian military equipment remain in the region.
See other examples of these disinformation narratives in our database, such as claims that by provoking Russia, Ukraine fills the role assigned by NATO; that the US is using Ukraine as a weapon against Russia; that a fascist coup d’état took place in Ukraine in 2014 that led to the Crimean referendum and civil war in Donbas; that OSCE is a criminal organisation that plays in favour of war in Donbas; that Ukraine is violating the Minsk agreements while the West ignores it; and that neo-Nazi fascists act now with impunity in Ukraine.
This disinformation message appeared in the same TV programme as the claims that “Accusing Russia for the Vrbetice explosion is an attempt to abort its rapprochement with Europe”, that “The ‘highly likely’ argument is used again to spread lies about Russia”, and that “Western mainstream media are totally biased, only Russian and Venezuelan outlets tell the truth”.