DISINFO: US threats against Russia could spark second civil war in Ukraine
SUMMARY
US threats against Russia could destabilise the situation in Ukraine, prompting Kyiv to quietly launch another civil war in the country's southeast.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative falsely painting the war in Ukraine as an internal conflict.
There is irrefutable evidence of direct Russian military involvement in Eastern Ukraine. Russia is supporting its proxies with weapons, its active-duty soldiers serve there and its top military commanders visit the war zone to coordinate joint efforts with the separatists.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that Moscow will continue to support these territories. The systematic issuing of Russian passports to several hundred of thousands of persons in the two entities is now also used as a pretext to claim the right to influence and perhaps intervene militarily. Russia is also reported to be using the occupied territories as a testing ground for new weapons.
The so-called People's republics DNR and LNR receive humanitarian, financial, and military backing from Russia. An InformNapalm study shows that thirty-one weapons systems found in the Donbas entered service with the Russian military between 2004 and 2015 and have never been produced in, or sold to, Ukraine.
On 21 February 2022, in violation of international law, President Putin recognised the independence of two breakaway regions of Ukraine and ordered Russian forces to perform so-called 'peacekeeping' functions. Several countries, including the EU, are expected to introduce sanctions against Russia in response to the move.
Read similar disinformation cases alleging that the conflict in Donbas is only internal, the Russian army is not a part of hostilities in Ukraine, that conflict in Ukraine is internal, Russia is not a party to it and that Ukraine is an integral part of the Russian World, only Russia can solve its domestic conflict.