The West is looking for new ways to conceal its own problems by generating a wave of anxiety over the Russian threat. This false narrative has been promoted by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which ignores the fact that Russia has mobilized over 100 thousand military on the Ukrainian border.
NEWS: “The spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, claimed that Western partners want to generate a wave of anxiety at world level in order to conceal its own problems. “Our Western partners want to fill the whole world with anxiety…And this is a deliberate action. Their intention is clear. […] According to the Russian diplomat, over the last 10 days alone a large number of press articles have been dealing with the alleged “beginning of the end for Russia’s aggressions against Ukraine”. […]”
NARRATIVES: 1. The West is promoting the fake narrative of Russian aggression to divert public attention from its own problems. 2. There’s no Russian aggression in Ukraine. 3. Ukraine is the one actually building up its military strength close to the Russian border.
BACKGROUND: Over the last few weeks, Russia has been rallying a significant number of troops close to the Ukrainian border and in the Crimean peninsula, adding to which are naval forces in the Black and Azov Seas, which have been reinforced by fleets from the Baltic and Caspian Seas. Around April 20, Russia’s combined forces exceeded a hundred and twenty thousand military, according to authorities in Kiev (a hundred and fifty thousand according to the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell), and the numbers keep rising. Russian forces in the area, which include units capable of launching offensive operations, already exceed the strength of Russia’s military forces in 2014, when it invaded and captured Crimea and supported separatist rebels in Eastern Ukraine. At present, according to the Ukrainian armed forces, Russia has repositioned 47 battalion tactical groups from its Western, southern and central divisions.
While the Kremlin claims the military build-up outside the Ukrainian border poses no threat, security experts say these forces can reach the border within 24 hours if they receive the go-ahead.
Besides, in their reports, independent observers with the OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine have confirmed the increase in the number of military equipment deployed to the separatist region: 22 Grad multiple rocket launchers and 18 mortars have been detected in Luhansk, for instance, according to a report dated April 20.
PURPOSE: To persuade the West of the absence of any Russian aggression in Ukraine and accuse the West of inciting Russophobia.
WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: The presence of Russian forces outside Ukraine’s borders has been confirmed from multiple sources, including satellite imaging. The military build-up was not followed by an increase in the operations of the Ukrainian army or a similar rallying of troops, since no potential threat can yet be invoked. Besides, the Ukrainian army lacks the capacity of mounting an attack on Russia. The West has not launched any information warfare attacks on Russia, but merely reacted to its latest actions. In the past, the West responded with sanctions to Russia’s various acts of aggression (the invasion of Crimea, assassinations on European soil, etc.), and right now it merely voiced its protest and concern with the Russian military build-up.
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