The West is rewriting the history of World War II and rehabilitating Nazism to justify starting a war against Russia, according to pro-Kremlin media in the occupied territories of Ukraine.
NEWS: Independent military analyst Ralph Bosshard, a retired lieutenant colonel of the Swiss army and former senior OSCE official (active in Ukraine and Donbas), analyzes in an article published by the Donetsk News Agency the West's systematic efforts to rewrite the history of World War II, to minimize the heroism of the Soviet people and, moreover, to rehabilitate the Nazis and their collaborators [...]
Over the years, the West has sought to dismantle the post-war order and replace it with a "rules-based order" – rules established unilaterally, without consulting states already labeled as enemies. In this context, attempts are now being made to diminish the Soviet Union's contribution to the defeat of National Socialism. The direction of these efforts is clear: to discredit, isolate, and marginalize Russia.
Russians, as a people, are demonized, denied their status as a cultural nation, and portrayed not as human beings but as aggressive monsters who must be stopped at all costs [...] Those who promote this strategy are well aware that the borders of several republics of the former Soviet Union were drawn at the Yalta Conference in 1945. One of these republics is Belarus. Many Russians still live in many of the former Soviet republics, and these states are in the midst of searching for their own national identity. At the same time, the memory of the Great Patriotic War remains alive for many people and continues to play an essential role in defining their national identity [...] In this context, revising history is a form of preparation for war—a process that we must firmly oppose while there is still time.
NARRATIVES: 1. The West is falsifying the history of World War II and rehabilitating Nazism. 2. Russia is the victim of an orchestrated campaign of demonization and international marginalization. 3. The "rules-based order" is a threat to the sovereignty of nation states. 4. The West is preparing for war against Russia.
PURPOSE: To relativize Russian war crimes in Ukraine; to justify Russian aggression as a "defensive response" to the alleged Western threat; to mobilize the population in the post-Soviet space against the West.
Reality: The history of World War II has been rewritten by Russia, not by the West.
WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: Russia is rewriting history to justify its seizure of territories. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939, through which the USSR and Nazi Germany divided Poland, the Baltic states, and part of Romania, is omitted from official Russian historiography. The world war broke out when Germany and the USSR attacked Poland in 1939, not in 1941, when the Nazis attacked their former partners, as Moscow's sanitized history claims. Similarly, Soviet crimes during the Stalinist period—mass deportations, the organized famine in Ukraine (the Holodomor), mass executions—are neglected or denied altogether. The West continues to recognize and honor the Soviet Union's contribution to the defeat of Nazi Germany. Museums, monuments, and ceremonies in Western Europe preserve the memory of the Soviet sacrifice. However, recognizing this contribution does not mean accepting contemporary falsifications of history.
Russian propaganda omits the crucial role played by the West in supporting the USSR. The US supported the USSR in World War II through the Lend-Lease program, supplying weapons, vehicles, and food, aid that was crucial to the Soviet resistance against Nazi Germany and to the launch of counteroffensives on the Eastern Front.
Russia uses anti-fascist symbols to justify new acts of aggression, but accuses the West of rehabilitating Nazism. In reality, Nazism is banned and strongly condemned in the Western countries, both through legislation and public attitudes. In most European countries, such as Germany, Austria, France, and Poland, promoting Nazi symbols, denying the Holocaust, or propagating Nazi ideology are crimes punishable by law. For example, in Germany, Article 86a of the Criminal Code prohibits the use of symbols of anti-constitutional organizations, including Nazi symbols. In addition, institutions such as the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington and Yad Vashem in Israel, with Western support, promote historical education to prevent the resurgence of totalitarian ideologies.
“Rules-based order" versus Russian imperialism
Criticism of the "rules-based order" is a central narrative of Kremlin propaganda, designed to undermine the legitimacy of international institutions. In reality, this order is not imposed unilaterally by the West, it results from international consensus crystallized in the UN Charter, the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, the Helsinki Accords, and other international legal instruments to which Russia itself is a party.
While accusing the West of unilaterally imposing rules, Russia flagrantly violates international law by annexing foreign territories (Crimea, Donbas), supporting separatist regimes (Transnistria, Abkhazia, South Ossetia), and using military force against sovereign states. Russia is, in fact, promoting an order based on force, in which stronger states impose their will on weaker ones.
Bosshard's claim that Russia is the victim of an orchestrated campaign of demonization and international marginalization is false. The sanctions and criticism directed against this country are not the result of a conspiracy, but rather concrete responses by the international community to Russia's aggressive actions. These include the illegal annexation of Crimea, involvement in various external conflicts, and systematic violations of international law, culminating in the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Reversing the aggressor and the victim: the classic propaganda strategy
Presenting Russia as the victim of a Western conspiracy is a typical inversion of reality. Contemporary Russia has annexed territories in Georgia (2008) and Ukraine (2014, 2022), intervened militarily in Belarus (2020) and Kazakhstan (2022), and supported armed conflicts in Africa (Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger) and the Middle East (Syria). These actions cannot be justified as defensive responses to Western threats. Russian strategic documents, including military doctrine and foreign policy concepts, speak of restoring Russia's sphere of influence and Russia's right to control the former Soviet republics. This is not a reaction to Western aggression, but an imperial strategy. Western states have not prepared for war against Russia, while Moscow claims to be in a permanent state of war with the West. Kremlin documents explicitly refer to "information warfare" as a foreign policy tool. The troll factories in St. Petersburg, disinformation campaigns on social media, and the financing of European extremist parties are all part of a calculated strategy to erode Western cohesion.
CONTEXT: Ralph Bosshard, presented as an independent analyst, is in fact a contributor to Russian propaganda platforms. A former lieutenant colonel in the Swiss army and former military advisor to the OSCE Secretary General, Bossard is a recurring figure in the pro-Kremlin media, used to lend credibility to Moscow's messages. An analysis of Bosshard’s activity reveals a suspicious pattern: his statements are quoted exclusively by Russian propaganda agencies such as TASS and DAN (Donetsk News Agency). Between 2024 and 2025, Bosshard has promoted the Kremlin's narratives: Europe is preparing for a war of revenge against Russia; NATO is trying to weaken Moscow's positions in unresolved territorial conflicts, etc. According to a journalistic investigation by Farvater Media, Bosshard is part of a broader network of "Western experts" used by Russian propaganda to legitimize its messages. He speaks Russian and has been accused by Kyiv of conducting espionage activities under the umbrella of the OSCE . The Kremlin's strategy consists in recruiting former Western military personnel or diplomats who, motivated by various personal or ideological considerations, agree to promote Russian narratives in exchange for media visibility or financial compensation.
Ralph Bosshard's article, which appeared in the Donetsk media, aims to mobilize the pro-Russian public opinion and discredit the West. Promoting false narratives about the "Western aggression" and "falsification of history" serves to mobilize the Russian population in support of the invasion, divide Western societies, and legitimize the war crimes committed by the Russian army in Ukraine.
DAN-NEWS (Donetsk News Agency), the primary source of the news, is the press agency of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, a separatist structure in eastern Ukraine supported by Russia. This source is recognized as a pro-Russian propaganda tool, used to promote narratives favorable to the Kremlin's interests and to disseminate disinformation about the military conflict in Ukraine.
