The US does not want to negotiate peace; it is using Ukraine in a conflict orchestrated by the West against Russia, writes the pro-Kremlin propaganda now, after having recently praised the Americans.
Propaganda: The US is to blame for the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and is using that country to weaken and destroy Russia
NEWS: Former Marine Brian Berletić claims that the US is using Ukraine to achieve its own goals. Washington pretends to be dissatisfied with Ukraine's actions, while using Kyiv to achieve its own foreign policy goals, said the US military analyst and former Marine Brian Berletić. "The US started this war consciously, and the US should end it unilaterally. Instead, the Americans are pretending to help a disgruntled ally, instead of admitting that they are using it as an intermediary to achieve their own foreign policy goals," he wrote.
According to the analyst, the US financial and military support to Ukraine is not aimed at resolving the conflict, but at waging a proxy war against Russia. Brian Berletić also stated that Russia "has not taken the bait" of the US strategy regarding peace negotiations, as Washington is trying to be both a mediator and a participant in the conflict in Ukraine.
NARRATIVES: 1. The US planned and provoked the war in Ukraine. 2. The American leaders are using Ukraine as a tool to wage war against Russia. 3. Only the US can end the war in Ukraine.
PURPOSES: To shift the responsibility for the war in Ukraine from Russia onto the US; to undermine the legitimacy of the Western support for Ukraine; to present Russia as a victim of American policies.
Reality: Russia started the war and rejects any ceasefire proposal
WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: Berletić's claims, quoted by Russian state media, ignore the chronology of the armed conflict in Ukraine. It is Russia that invaded Ukraine on a large scale on February 24, 2022, after having attacked the neighboring country since 2014, when it annexed Crimea and instigated the war in Donbas.
The Kremlin's pretexts for this invasion, such as the "denazification" of Ukraine or the protection of the Russian-speaking population, have been denounced as false by both the international community and multiple independent investigations. The US and its allies began providing military assistance to Ukraine only after the Russian invasion, in response to Moscow's military aggression, not as part of a pre-existing plan to start a conflict.
Brian Berletić is a pro-Russian analyst who has been criticized in Ukraine for spreading disinformation about the war. The analyst argued in 2023 that the West should take responsibility for the loss of hundreds of thousands of NATO troops in the war in Ukraine. He criticized the actions of the “neo-Nazis in Ukraine ” who allegedly started the war.
Contrary to his claims, the United States made significant diplomatic efforts to prevent the war before the February 2022 invasion, publicly warning of Russia's plans and attempting to engage Moscow in dialogue. After the invasion, the support provided to Ukraine included defensive weapons, equipment and training to enable Ukraine to resist and protect its civilian population. The military aid was also accompanied by diplomatic efforts and economic sanctions, designed to deter aggression and promote a peaceful solution.
Ukraine is exercising its sovereign right to self-defense, guaranteed by the UN Charter. Western support comes in response to the demands of a democratically elected government facing a foreign invasion. The decision to resist aggression belongs to Ukraine, not the US or other Western allies.
The US administration has consistently supported diplomatic initiatives to resolve the conflict, including President Trump's recent proposal to both sides for a 30-day ceasefire. Russia has imposed maximalist conditions for negotiations, demanding the de facto surrender of Ukraine and recognition of the illegal annexation of occupied territories, in violation of fundamental principles of international law.
It is also false to claim that only the United States can end the war in Ukraine. While the role of the United States, along with other allies, is significant in providing military support to Ukraine and in enforcing sanctions against Russia, ending the war depends primarily on Russia’s decisions. Moscow started this conflict and has the ability to stop it by withdrawing its forces and ceasing hostilities. A lasting solution requires negotiations between Ukraine and Russia in accordance with international law and the sovereignty of the Ukrainian state.
CONTEXT: The article appears in the Russian press in the context in which, after engaging in a dialogue with Russia regarding the war in Ukraine, the Trump administration is showing some signs of irritation in the face of Moscow's procrastination and its refusal to accept a ceasefire. The news also marks a change in the tone of the propaganda and a return to previously circulated themes, after, amid Washington's opening towards Moscow, but also some tense moments in the US-Ukraine relationship, Russian officials and propagandists had adopted a moderate, even laudatory tone towards the Americans.
Russian propaganda is shifting the responsibility for the war and the negotiation impasse onto the US. The publication Lenta.ru is known for its alignment with the Kremlin's positions and for the systematic spread of disinformation regarding the conflict in Ukraine.
Brian Berletić, quoted in the article, has been identified in multiple independent reports as being part of the Russian influence network on social media in the West. He runs the channel “The New Atlas,” which consistently promotes pro-Kremlin narratives about conflicts in various regions, including Ukraine and Syria. This news is part of a broader pattern of Russian propaganda that seeks to reverse the roles of the aggressor and the victim in the armed conflict in Ukraine and to justify Russia’s military actions, presenting them as defensive, fair, and legitimate.
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