Russia has undertaken a continuous and well-coordinated The Girl in Kherson state-controlled disinformation campaign directed at the Russian people, its neighbors, the European Union, and beyond, with the goal of swaying public opinion. This disinformation campaign began shortly after Russia's illegal takeover of Crimea in 2014, as well as its continuing military assault against Ukraine.
Authorities of Russia have gone to great lengths to demonize Ukraine, picture it as a consequence of global safety, and criticize the world community for defending territorial integrity, Ukrainian sovereignty, and independence with its globally renowned borders. It has done so along with the support of state-run media and a larger “ecosystem” of pro-Kremlin outlets.
By framing them as perceived hostile threats to Russia's “valid security concerns,” the Russian campaign has also actually attacked the EU and other players, including NATO. The disinformation effort has been compounded by Russia's recent buildup of military, which began in the 2021 spring around the border of Ukraine as well as inside the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula.
6.1 Myth Number 1
According to this myth, the reason behind the ongoing tensions is the persistent belligerent behavior of Ukraine as well as its Western allies. Russia cannot be alleged of doing anything wrong as it is believed that Russia is only trying to protect and safeguard its legitimate concerns and thus cannot be held responsible for the current conflict.
This is completely untrue. In reality, Russia continues to violate international law as well as other commitments to which it has pledged. By illegally colonizing the Crimean Peninsula and conducting acts of armed violence against Ukraine, Russia, one of the permanent members of the UN Security Council, has breached at least 12 international and bilateral treaties. All three charters guarantee the territorial integrity and sovereign equality of nations, as well as the sanctity of borders, the prohibition of the threat or the use of force, and the right of states to adopt or modify their own arrangements of security.
To put it differently, Russia's acts, particularly in the Donbas, undermining and jeopardizing Ukraine's sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence are illegal. They continue to be a major source of concern for the European security system, as well as a threat to the international rules-based order.
As a consequence of the ongoing conflict with Russia, Ukraine has suffered a large number of casualties. As a consequence of Russia's actions, approximately 14,000 Ukrainians also have been killed, and many more have been injured. As a result of the fighting, almost 1.5 million individuals have been displaced from eastern Ukraine and the Crimean Peninsula.
6.2 Myth Number 2
According to this myth, Ukraine is solely responsible for the triggering of this conflict. Furthermore, this myth holds that there is evidence of atrocities committed by Ukraine against its own Russian-speaking populace in the east of the country. So it gives Russia the ground for intervention in Ukraine as Russia cannot remain aloof to what is happening in Ukraine.
This is yet another erroneous assertion. Claims that Ukraine is conducting a war within its own country and persecuting its own citizens are absurd. To bolster domestic policies for military aggression of Russia, the country's state-controlled mainstream press has tirelessly sought to demonize Ukraine, trying to accuse it of the alleged mass slaughter in the east of Ukraine, trying to draw spurious parallels to Nazism as well as World War II, and making up stories to evoke negative emotional reactions from viewers.
There have been numerous examples of this kind of fabrication, the most well-known of which was a Russian TV broadcast charging Ukrainian soldiers of chastising a very little boy in the east of Ukraine at the outset of the conflict. Fact-checkers quickly pointed out that the story was entirely made up. Similar stories continue to be written.
In reality, there is scant evidence that Ukrainian authorities are persecuting ethnic Russian or Russian-speaking individuals in eastern Ukraine, let alone genocide. The OSCE, the UN High Commission for Human Rights, and the Council of Europe have all issued reports confirming this.
6.3 Myth Number 3
The idea that Russia and Ukraine are “one nation” is among the most venerable and strongly ingrained stereotypes about Ukraine.
Even when viewed from a historical long-term point of view, this argument falls apart. While they have shared ancestors dating all the way back to Kievan Rus’, which ruled from the ninth towards the middle-13th century, it is simply not accurate to state that Ukrainians and Russians are today one nation.
Despite many centuries of foreign occupation, Ukraine has a powerful national identity and culture, and it is a sovereign nation. Since imperial times, the idea of the “all-the-Russian nation” with really no political boundaries has been utilized to undermine the sovereignty of Ukraine and its national identity.
In an effort to legitimate its military assault on Ukraine since the year 2014, the government of Russia has revived this lie. In the 21st century, the notion of “spheres of influence” is obsolete. Ukraine, like all sovereign states, has complete autonomy for its foreign and security policies, alliances, and membership in international organizations and military alliances.
To promote the concept that Ukraine is within Russia's “sphere of influence,” authorities of Russia and country-controlled media frequently contend that Ukraine is not even a “genuine” state. Russian official propaganda strives to falsify the past in order to give credence to the idea that Ukraine is a natural sphere of concern for Russia.
6.4 Myth Number 4
This myth says that since the European Union is not interested in Ukraine, it should turn to Russia since Russia can safeguard Ukraine's interests.
This is yet another untruth. Ukraine, as well as the EU, have formed a strategic partnership. In recent years, the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area have solidified their alliance, making Ukraine one of the EU's closest friends. Ukraine's major trading partner is now the EU, which accounts for more than around 40 percent of the country's total commerce. The EU covers a wide variety of initiatives in Ukraine as part of the Eastern Partnership, as well as the reform of the Ukraine program.
Since 2014, Ukraine has collected €17 billion in EU loans and assistance. Since 2014, the EU has backed Ukraine's territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence within internationally recognized borders, as well as imposed sanctions on Russia for its deliberate destabilization of Ukraine, particularly in Crimea. The EU also helps Ukraine to be more resilient to disinformation and cyber-attacks.
6.5 Myth Number 5
This myth states that NATO and the West should be held responsible for this conflict. It holds that since NATO and the West failed to honor their promises of not enlarging the alliance, Russia would not have felt threatened.
A commitment like this was never made, and NATO was never requested to make one. According to Russian state-controlled media, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was guaranteed “verbally” that NATO would not extend beyond a reunified Germany. In a 2014 interview, Gorbachev refuted this assertion, saying, “The idea of 'NATO expansion' was not addressed at all, and it wasn't brought up in those years. This is something I say fully aware of. Even after the Warsaw Pact fell apart in 1991, not a single Eastern European country raised the topic.”
These ostensibly verbal agreements are a work of fiction. NATO members have never made any legally or politically enforceable agreements not to expand the alliance beyond reunified Germany's boundaries. The idea that NATO agreed not to expand significantly misrepresents the alliance's character. NATO is not “growing” in the imperialistic sense as a defensive alliance. Each individual applicant, as well as the current 30 NATO allies, makes their own decisions about NATO membership. Bordering states, in this example Russia, do not have the right to intervene in the affairs of independent states.
6.6 Myth Number 6
It is because of NATO’s expansionist plans that Russia feels threatened and encircled by enemies. Consequently, Russia has the right to defend its legitimate rights and its boundaries.
There are no plans for any alliance or country to invade Russia. There is no one who poses a threat to Russia. In truth, both Ukraine and the EU are staunch supporters of the current order of European security. Please keep in mind that Russia is indeed the world's biggest country by land area, with over 140 million people, and is one of the world's biggest armed forces, with some of the most nuclear weapons. It's absurd to picture Russia as a state in great peril.
NATO countries make up less than one-sixteenth of Russia's border in geographic terms. NATO membership is limited to just five of the fourteen countries bordering Russia. Furthermore, there is no reason to believe that military operation is the only viable option for the problem. International institutions, bilateral contracts, and forums in which Russia could engage in a peaceful and constructive dialogue include the OSCE framework and arms control regimes. The EU maintains open lines of contact with Russia as part of its five-point Russia policy. There are many forms of established communication to choose from.
As an independent country, Ukraine, on the other hand, is free to choose its own policies and alliances. Russia's veto authority over Ukraine's sovereign activities is ridiculous. The EU and NATO do not claim to have veto power over which countries can join the Collective Security Treaty Organizations (CSTO) because they are not members of it.
6.7 Myth Number 7
According to this myth, regardless of all the facts, it is illogical to hold Russia responsible for the current tensions in Ukraine. It is actually Ukraine that has purposely defied the Minsk agreements. Moreover, it holds the West responsible for arming Ukraine. As a consequence, Russia has to act to defend its territorial borders. So this conflict is an outcome of the West's provocative measures.
Russia, in fact, has amassed 140,000 troops and equipment on Ukraine's borders, including on the illegally acquired Peninsula of Crimea. The Minsk agreements, to which Russia is a party, are the most recent formal documents in which Russia has recognized Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Russia, on the other hand, has not fulfilled its obligations under the Minsk agreements. The Russian side, as well as its representatives, failed to enforce a ceasefire, withdraw all heavy weapons, carry out an all-for-all exchange of political prisoners, or ensure the delivery of humanitarian assistance through an international framework. Russia, instead, has been supporting illegal armed groups in eastern Ukraine. Russia also denies unrestricted access to OSCE SMM monitors, especially along the Ukraine-Russia border, where the (very limited) monitoring operation ended in the summer of 2021 due to a Russian veto.
It is difficult to address the political aspects of Minsk II without the full implementation of the ceasefire, the withdrawal of heavy weapons, and full access permission to the entire territory for the OSCE monitoring mission. Nevertheless, although Ukraine had no authority on the land, it executed as many of the Minsk agreements as it could and tackled all the problems. It has approved, in addition to renewing, the special status and amnesty law (2014), as well as the proposed legislation on local elections (2014). Ukraine made constitutional revisions to provide the territories now under its control with more autonomy (2015).
6.8 Myth Number 8
This myth holds that European Union is both fragile and irrelevant. Therefore, there is no need to reach out to European Union.
The Russian political class worked relentlessly to convince the rest of the planet that the EU is incapable of supporting international peace and security. Whether it's the Russia–Ukraine conflict or another international issue, Russian officials and state media routinely portray the EU as ineffective and impossible to deal with crises.
In January 2022, Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister, went so far as to criticize the EU for “impotence.” The notion that Europe was calm since the end of World War II is ample evidence to refute this claim. In partnership with the UN, the G7 countries, NATO, the OSCE, the Council of Europe, and other international partners, the EU has made real contributions to security and peace in the wider European region and even beyond, particularly in Ukraine.
Ukraine's major commercial partner, as well as the integrated world's largest economic zone, is the EU. The comprehensive Association Agreement between both the EU and Ukraine pulls Ukraine as well as the EU closer together by encouraging Ukraine reforms, opening the EU's single market and standards, and harmonizing laws and regulations in various areas.