DISINFO: There is no legitimate reason for the EU to describe Russia as an aggressor
SUMMARY
There is no legitimate reason for the EU to describe Russia as an aggressor. The sanctions imposed on Russia are unreasonable.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation about the EU’s alleged Russophobia, claiming the the EU unjustly and, without any factual basis, criticises Russia’s foreign and domestic policies and imposes unjustified sanctions against it.
It is not true, as the article claims, that the EU’s criticism of Russian behaviour is illegitimate and unreasonable. This claim ignores the reasons that have prompted the European Union to adopt certain positions and actions in response to Russia's aggressive foreign policy conduct and violations of human rights by the Kremlin.
The EU imposed sanctions against Russia as a result of the illegal annexation of Crimea and the Kremlin's destabilising actions in eastern Ukraine. As stated by the European Council, individual restrictive measures were first applied on 17 March 2014 in response to the unprovoked actions deliberately undermining and destabilising the territorial integrity of Ukraine. Other EU measures in response to the crisis in Ukraine included economic sanctions targeting specific sectors of the Russian economy and restrictions on economic relations with Crimea and Sevastopol.
Since Russia’s aggression against Ukraine in 2014, the Kremlin has been justly criticised by the EU and other Western actors for its involvement in aggressive and unacceptable actions, such as the downing of flight MH17, interference in the 2016 and 2020 US presidential elections and in other electoral processes in Western states, the poisoning with a chemical weapon of Sergey Skripal and Alexei Navalny, the Vrbětice explosions in the Czech Republic and cyber-operations such as the attack on SolarWinds.
Read similar cases claiming that allegations of Russian role in the Vrbetice explosion are part of a Russophobic smear campaign, that there is no evidence of Russian involvement in the SolarWinds hacking attack and that the European Parliament adopted a Russophobic resolution.