Russia and China are looking for peace solutions in Ukraine, while the West wants a protracted war, according to Russian state media reporting on the talks in Moscow between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. In reality, it is Russia that started the war and is continuing it by keeping troops in Ukraine and trying to seize even more of that country's territory.
Propaganda: Russia and China are looking for lasting peace solutions in Ukraine, and the West is against it
NEWS: “The different approaches to the situation in Ukraine were discussed during the state visit to Russia by the Chinese President Xi Jinping. […] According to Vladimir Putin, the Chinese authorities are guided in their initiatives by the principles of truth and respect for international law. Xi confirmed this, arguing that the new security architecture should be built on old international law, and not on some rules invented by the United States […].
The West only pretends to want peace in Ukraine. As you know, on March 15, 2023, at a meeting of the NATO defense ministers and all those who support Ukraine (Ramstein-10) it was decided that 150 Leopard tanks would be sent to launch a liberating and victorious counter-offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. […]
This is typical Western strategy and tactic, deceptive and duplicitous: they talk about peace, but at the same time they are trying to draw as many participants as possible into confrontation and war, to create chaos and then present themselves as peacemakers. […]
But both Putin and Xi are experienced politicians and will try to work together. If Russia is defeated in Ukraine, then China will be next for a “democratic execution”. It is a great pity that the war will continue under the guise of a struggle for peace, which the West is waging through military action.
NARRATIVE: Russia and China want peace in Ukraine, while the West is fueling the war
Fact: Russia invaded Ukraine and has been supported in this war by China
WHY THE NARRATIVE IS FALSE: After the meeting between the Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, Russian state media wrote about the peace plan discussed by the two leaders. The Russian press has accused the West of rejecting a peace plan and wanting hostilities to continue at any cost.
The portal also writes that the war in Ukraine is happening because of the West, which provides Kyiv with weapons and encourages it to liberate its territories. If Russia is defeated by the West in this war, the “next victim” will be China, which will undergo a “democratic execution”. Praising China's peace plan, rejected by Ukraine and the West, the Russian press writes that NATO states are providing Kyiv with tanks and missiles and keep the war going. Based on these claims, a number of Telegram channels close to the Kremlin have disseminated false narratives about peacemakers (China, Russia) and aggressors (NATO, USA, the West) in the context of the war in Ukraine. The Russian press calls the initiatives presented by Xi Jinping and Putin as ideas for sustainable peace, based on respect for international law.
In reality, according to the rules of international law, the UN Charter in particular, every state has an inherent right to defend itself. The Russian army invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and this act of armed aggression was condemned by most of the world’s states and by the most important international organizations.
The West is not party to the conflict, it is only helping Kyiv to defend itself. It was not the West that caused the war by supplying Ukraine with weapons, it was Moscow that invaded a sovereign and independent state. The “special military operation” was initially aimed at changing the political leadership of Ukraine and subordinating Kyiv to Moscow's political interests. The Russian propaganda makes a classic narrative spin: cause is swapped for effect. The cause – Russia's invasion of Ukraine – is presented in a willfully false way as a consequence of arms deliveries.
The Russian aggression has been condemned by most of the world’s states several times. 141 member states of the UN General Assembly voted for a resolution condemning Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. Only 5 states, including Russia, voted against. With the help of specialists from abroad, Kyiv is collecting evidence to prove that Russia has committed war crimes on the territory of Ukraine. A number of international mechanisms have been launched to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for the Russian president Vladimir Putin, accusing him of being responsible for war crimes committed in Ukraine.
President Zelensky cautiously welcomed China's peace plan to end Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but said it would only be acceptable if it led to the withdrawal of the troops from all the Ukrainian territories occupied by Vladimir Putin. Mihailo Podoliak, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, rejected China's “unrealistic” proposal to end the conflict, writing on Twitter that Beijing should not “bet on an aggressor who broke the law and will lose the war.”
According to international media, China has supported Russia since the first days of the war. Beijing provided the technology that Moscow's troops needed to continue fighting in Ukraine despite international sanctions and export controls, according to an analysis of Russian customs data. While the West has supported Ukraine's defensive efforts, China has aided an aggressor state.
Veridica has debunked a series of false narratives that serve the same political purpose. According to the Russian propaganda, the US has been arming Ukraine since 2014, in order to push it into war against Ukraine. The Russian state media has also written that Moscow shows restraint when bombarding Ukraine, knowing that the population does not support the Neo-Nazi government. To convince the public opinion of the necessity of mobilization in Russia, the Russian press has written that Minsk and Moscow are forming a joint military group to defend themselves against Ukrainian terrorist attacks and a potential NATO aggression.
