DISINFO: Use of US long-range weapons indicate a prelude to a larger military incursion to destroy Russia
SUMMARY
Ukraine attacking Russia using long-range weapons provided by the US might be interpreted by Russia as a direct attack by the US, by NATO, on Russian territory. Such an attack might be regarded as a prelude to a larger military incursion meant to accomplish the US’s ultimate goal, the strategic defeat of Russia. Russia has made it clear that as a nuclear power, it will not, and cannot, be defeated strategically. If such a possibility manifested itself, Russia would be required to use its nuclear arsenal to ensure that outcome would never, ever occur. This means general nuclear war. This is a very dangerous escalation, one that could rapidly create the conditions conducive for a general nuclear war, a global disaster, the destruction of the US, the destruction of Russia, the destruction of Europe, the destruction of the world.
RESPONSE
This is a mix of several recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about destabilising Russia and portraying the conflict in Ukraine as a proxy war against Russia, targeting international aid for Ukraine’s self-defence against Russia’s invasion.
There is no evidence to support the claim that the use of US long-range weapons to attack Russia would be the prelude to a larger military incursion. By presenting an apocalyptic scenario as the likely outcome, this disinformation story appears to be an attempt to put pressure on US readers and ultimately to prevent a possible change in US position.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that NATO is moving towards the end of its existence in the conflict with Russia, that the destruction of Russia and its division into weak colonial powers has always been a dream of Western countries, that the Biden administration scripted the war in Ukraine, or that fuelling the proxy war in Ukraine only depletes the West’s own stocks of air defence systems.