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Whereas Ukrainian politicians need the war to stay in power, Russia contributes to preserving the sovereignty of Ukraine in the face of threats caused by NATO.
NEWS: The mobilization of Russian society that we observed during the presidential election is, in fact, a vote in favor of the special military operation. The increase in the weapon production capability, the equipping and modernization of the Armed Forces of Russia leave no chance to the Ukrainian army [...].
Zelenskyy and his inner circle, just like Prime Minister Netanyahu, wanted to reach a situation where their political, if not also actual survival, depends directly on the continuation of the war. But the war can no longer continue without American financial support [...].
If NATO member states intervene militarily on the territory of Ukraine, this will give Russia free hand. If the West takes the first step towards breaking up Ukraine, no one will have any claim towards us. In that event, we will defend the real Ukraine and its true sovereignty.
NARRATIVES: 1. People voted for continuing the war in Ukraine in the Russian presidential election. 2. Zelenskyy and Netanyahu need the war to stay in power. 3. Russia is defending Ukraine’s sovereignty against NATO.
BACKGROUND: On March 17, 2024, Russia hosted presidential elections, which Western political pundits have described as “a ballot with a known outcome”. Vladimir Putin did not allow representatives of political forces other than pro-Kremlin to register in the race, and a few weeks before the election, the leader of the opposition, Alexei Navalny, died under suspicious circumstances in a penal colony in the Arctic region. According to Russian authorities, the election campaign was “very clean”, and the voting process was democratic and honest. The Russian media presented the results announced by the Central Electoral Commission in Moscow as a vote in support of the war in Ukraine.
After the Hamas attacks on civilians in Israel on October 7, 2023, the military conflict in the Gaza Strip was compared to that in Ukraine. Russian propaganda claims that the two states are unjustly taking revenge on civilians and punishing them, accusing Zelenskyy of wanting to continue the war at all costs in order to stay in power and get rich. After Iran's drone and missile attack on Israel, Prime Minister Netanyahu was compared to Zelenskyy, being called a US puppet.
In this context, Russian government media claims that, in fact, the large-scale invasion of Ukraine is not a war, but a special military operation designed to protect civilians. Ukraine’s rapprochement to NATO or Western support for Kyiv’s armed forces are described as existential threats to Ukrainian statehood, with Russia having to “defend its actual sovereignty”. The West is also accused of breaking up Ukraine, while Russia's war crimes on the territory of an independent and sovereign state are sidelined.
At the same time, since the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian media has been writing that Moscow had to launch the “special military operation” in order to defend itself against Western aggression. According to false narratives, debunked by Veridica, Russia attacked Ukraine to prevent a NATO invasion. The actions of the Russian army were justified by the discovery of a so-called plan by Ukraine and NATO to attack the self-proclaimed People's Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, the Crimean peninsula, and some territories of the Russian Federation. The Russian media commended the “special operation” for having succeeded in stopping NATO “aggression”.
PURPOSE: To justify the continuation of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine
Fact: Russia is not defending Ukraine’s sovereignty, but waging a war of conquest and destruction, violating the standards of international law
WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: The Russian presidential election does not legitimize Putin's regime, nor does it mean that Moscow has any right to brutally attack Ukraine. The election was undemocratic, and Putin rigged the election, blocking any access to the election process for the opposition, journalists or independent observers.
From this perspective, the elections in Russia can be dubbed pseudo-elections (and for good reason). Vladimir Putin was congratulated only by the authoritarian leaders of the world. For instance, Iran hailed a “solid victory” for Vladimir Putin in the election and wished him good luck. Since the elections were not democratic, free and honest, and the results were illegitimate, the themes of the election campaign were not real either, but represent a product of pro-Kremlin political engineering. Putin's re-election in a pseudo-election does not mean that what the Kremlin leader says represents the opinion of Russian society. Therefore, to say that Putin's victory is a vote in favor of the war in Ukraine and that Russians want the “special military operation” to continue is a political deception and an act of disinformation.
Comparing Ukraine with Israel and Zelenskyy with Netanyahu is also meant to manipulate public opinion. Israel was forced to respond to the terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and Kyiv has an inherent right to defend itself against a Russian military aggression under international law. Neither Ukraine, nor Israel needed a war. Moreover, unlike Israel, which is engaged in an offensive in Gaza, Ukraine is defending itself on its own territory and has partially lost four regions, in addition to Crimea, which was invaded and annexed by the Russian Federation in 2014.
The war does not benefit Kyiv, as the Russian media claims. The destruction caused by Russia on the territory of Ukraine is tremendous. The economy is in shatters and depopulation and poverty are direct consequences of the war. According to the estimates of the Presidential Administration in Kyiv, the destruction caused by Russia on the territory of Ukraine exceeded 700 billion USD.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy cannot end the war by himself, because it is Russia that attacked Ukraine. Under martial law, the Ukrainian state cannot hold elections, but certain reshuffles were operated at government and military leadership levels. The end to this war depends entirely on Moscow's decision to withdraw its army from the territory of a sovereign state.
Pro-Kremlin propaganda does not mention anything about the war crimes committed by Russian servicemen on the territory of Ukraine, the bombing of electrical infrastructure and civilian targets, the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, etc. All of Moscow's actions so far have been aimed at destroying the sovereignty and independence of the Ukrainian state. Moreover, the legal documents signed by Vladimir Putin himself in September 2022 contradict the false narratives. The documents that ratify the annexation of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions to Russia, are not recognized by the international community and are merely a blow to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a neighboring state. Therefore, Russia cannot be the defender of the sovereignty of Ukraine, a country it attacked and seeks to destroy.
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