The war in Ukraine is one of national liberation for Russia, but also for the freedom of the whole world, according to a speech by Putin.
Propaganda: Russia is fighting on the territory of Ukraine for the freedom of mankind and against racism.
NEWS: The Russian president Vladimir Putin participated in the 25th plenary meeting of the Assembly of the Russian World. He stated that, in recent years, the state has become stronger and is currently engaged in a war of national liberation against the West, fighting for all humanity on the territory of Ukraine.
With its special military operation in Ukraine, Russia is fighting for the freedom of the whole world.The dictatorship of the American hegemon is getting weaker, Putin said. Western states seek to weaken Russia. Putin stressed that Western countries want to "dismantle and loot" Russia, but no one will allow it.
[…] The West does not like the fact that many nations live on the territory of the Russian Federation, while racism and neo-Nazism against Russian citizens are flourishing in Europe. Russia has become stronger in recent years, the Russian leader emphasized, noting that Russia's historical territories have begun to return to the country, and people are being reconnected to the true values. The world order totally depends on the state of the Russian Federation. Without a strong and sovereign state, world order is impossible.
NARRATIVE: The war in Ukraine is for Russia a war of national liberation.
Reality: Russia invaded Ukraine and has committed war crimes, unprovoked by Kyiv or the West.
WHY THE NARRATIVE IS FALSE: Russian President Vladimir Putin presents the invasion of an independent state as a historic act. He claims that Moscow has not attacked anyone but is only defending itself against the "aggressive West". The Russian military's war against Ukraine is presented as a war of the West, dominated by racism and neo-Nazism, against Russian citizens. Being surrounded by the West, under the coordination of the "American hegemon", Russia is forced to carry out a "special military operation" to protect the authentic values and peoples who live in harmony on its territory. Starting from the myth of the besieged fortress, Russian propaganda has developed an image of the external enemy that the Russians are forced to destroy and help Ukraine to become free. One indication of this national liberation is the "return to Russia of some historical territories," which, according to Putin, get reconnected to the values of the Russian world.
In reality, Russia’s “war of national liberation" on the territory of Ukraine or the "special military operation" is a war of conquest and an act of military aggression, condemned by the international community. The UN, the Council of Europe, the OSCE and other international organizations have condemned Russia's war against Ukraine, from the initial operations that led to the annexation of Crimea to the full-scale war that broke out in February 2022. After Vladimir Putin announced last fall that some regions had been annexed to Russia, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly condemned Russia’s “illegal annexations” of Ukrainian territories .
Russia under Vladimir Putin is not stronger, but increasingly isolated on the international stage. In March of this year, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against the Russian president for his responsibility for the war crimes committed in Ukraine. Russia is responsible for killing civilians, destroying infrastructure, bombing power facilities and ports on the Black Sea and Danube, and is accused of torturing civilians and committing other crimes on the territory of Ukraine. So, it is not the West that is tearing apart and looting Russia, but Moscow is tearing Ukraine apart, destroying its economy and killing its civilians. In November 2022, the European Parliament declared Russia a state sponsor of terrorism . Since the beginning of the war, civilians have repeatedly been the target of Russian attacks, notable cases including the bombing of the theater in Mariupol, of the railway station in Kramatorsk, the convoy near Zaporizhzhya, the killing of civilians in Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipro and other cities.
Vladimir Putin accuses the West of racism, Russophobia and Nazism, emphasizing that Russia is a model of peaceful coexistence of different peoples. The EU is most often accused of racism, and the Ukrainian political leadership is accused of Nazism. It is worth mentioning that in the Western countries racism and Nazism are prohibited, and the EU cannot agree to any kind of national, racial or linguistic discrimination. According to the accession criteria, known as the Copenhagen Criteria , the states that intend to join the EU must ensure the stability of the institutions that guarantee democracy, the rule of law, human rights, as well as the respect and protection of minorities.
At the same time, Russia has systematically violated the rights of the Crimean Tatars since 2014, with some being sentenced to several years in prison for disloyalty to the occupation authorities. The UN has repeatedly condemned Russia for placing weapons in houses and apartment blocks in Donetsk between 2014 and 2022. Moreover, in October 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin promulgated the law by which Russia denounces the framework Convention for the protection of national minorities , after the Council of Europe limited Moscow's participation in this mechanism following the start of the war against Ukraine.
National minorities in Russia can no longer be protected by international mechanisms, and the situation of various indigenous peoples will further worsen against the background of human rights violations by the Putin regime.
Veridica has dismantled a number of false narratives regarding the historic mission of Russia's war against Ukraine. According to pro-Kremlin propaganda, Russia is fighting in Ukraine for the freedom of the Palestinians , and the Russian army is saving the Ukrainians from self-destruction. According to Russian media, Putin warned Ukraine 23 years ago that NATO would provoke a war, and now the West is forcing Russia to expand its military operations in Ukraine. Russian propaganda has tried to convince the public that cemeteries in Ukraine are full of dead soldiers and the mothers of those mobilized are protesting against the war.
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