Ukraine’s military campaign on the territory of Crimea is tantamount to the USA declaring war on Russia, and Moscow may answer by bombing Washington, the Russian government media writes, quoting a Moscow official. In fact, Ukraine is entitled to recapture this territory, and the international community has never recognized the illegal annexation of Crimea or it being part of the Russian Federation.
NEWS: “The right to carry out military operations in Crimea was offered as a gift from the USA to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and is seen in the peninsula as a declaration of war on Russia. Crimea’s permanent representative to the Russian presidency, the deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Crimea, Georgiy Muradov, highlighted the hypocrisy of America’s plans to wage war on our country: “They are trained to fight the war using the Nazis’ blood-stained hands. […] We cannot neglect to remind Washington of our nuclear capabilities, which will rise about the stupidity of Washington’s madmen”, Muradov said.
The Crimean politician pointed out that [any attempt at violating Russian sovereignty in Crimea] is the equivalent of an invitation “to bomb Washington” […]
Allowing the Ukrainian army to bomb Crimea was a rash decision from admiral John Kirby, because Crimea remains a Russian territory, both de jure and de facto (no matter how much the American political elite would like to think otherwise).
NARRATIVE: The USA has declared war on Russia, allowing the Ukrainian army to bomb Crimea.
WHY THE NARRATIVE IS FALSE: According to Russian propaganda, Crimea is a territory of Russia, which makes any military aggression in this territory an act of aggression against Moscow, entitling the latter to respond by attacking the aggressor. On the other hand, Russian propaganda has been constantly trying to make the West (NATO, the United States) responsible for the war in Ukraine or involve it in the conflict. Originally, an alleged NATO threat was one of the excuses invoked to launch the invasion. Later on, amidst defeats sustained by the Russian army on the ground, Russian propaganda (refusing to admit that the Russian army is inferior to the Ukrainian one) started spreading the idea that the war in Ukraine is in fact a war against the West.
In fact, Crimea was annexed by the Russian Federation in 2014, an act of aggression condemned by the international community. Under international law, the Crimean Peninsula is a Ukrainian territory temporarily occupied by Moscow, and Kyiv has every right to reclaim this territory using military force or diplomatic channels. The military operation aimed at liberating Crimea is no different than the Ukrainian counteroffensive in Kharkiv, Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson regions. For this reason, bombing certain objectives in Crimea can under no circumstances be similar to an act of aggression targeting Russia. Conversely, the mere presence of Russian forces in occupied Crimea is an act of aggression against another state.
After the international media wrote about the Pentagon’s decision to deliver military equipment to Ukraine regardless of it being used in Crimea or on the territory of Russia, admiral John Kirby said the USA does not encourage Ukraine to bomb Russian territory, although it admitted Kyiv has every right to recaptured territories annexed by the Russian Federation, including Crimea.
Ukraine’s Western partners have repeatedly underlined that the Ukrainian army is entitled to use weapons delivered to Kyiv on its sovereign territory. The Ukrainian army makes decisions regardless of the West, therefore it does not answer to the USA, the United Kingdom or any other state.
The USA and NATO are not directly involved in the conflict, while at the same time providing Kyiv with military equipment and humanitarian aid. Since the start of the war, the United States and NATO have actually tried to take all possible measures to make sure they will not be involved in this military conflict.
For this reason, Russia bombing an American city in response to Ukrainian operations will be considered an act of aggression, not retaliation.
Veridica has disproved several other false narratives speaking of Russia’s “historic claim” on Crimea and the nature of the war in Ukraine. The Russian media wrote that the United States armed Ukraine starting 2014, to push it into a war against Russia, and due to Kyiv’s neo-Nazi propaganda, Ukrainians do not understand Russia is here to liberate, not occupy them. Russian propaganda tried to persuade the public in 2021 that Moscow was trying to rally forces on the Ukrainian border in order to defend against a NATO aggression, and was forced to protect Donbas against the genocide planned by Ukraine and the West.
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