New fake spread by Russia: Ukraine fighting in NATO interests

Russian propaganda pundits in the temporarily occupied Crimea are coming up with new fake stories regarding NATO: while they start to recognize that Ukraine is in fact a valid actor in the international arena, they insist that its armed forces are fighting in the interests of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

This was discussed during a press conference "Fakes about NATO in occupied Crimea" hosted by Ukrinform.

"What accents does the Russian propaganda machine put in order to discredit both NATO - the Alliance that provides security - and Ukraine along with its Defense Forces? So, the first fake is this: ‘NATO plans to destroy Russia at the hands of Ukraine,’” noted the chairman of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, Eskender Bariev, who is also the head of the Legal and Foreign Affairs Department at the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People.

He recalled that earlier, Russia claimed it had launched the so-called "special military operation" in order to prevent the deployment of NATO military bases in Ukraine. Now the Russian media, Telegram channels, and experts are convincing their audiences that the purpose of the war is to prevent NATO from destroying Russia. Thus, Ukraine becomes a valid actor in their propaganda narratives. Such disinformation is spread in order to form a perception of a ‘holy people's war’ and encourage Russians to join it.

Another trend of Russian disinformation, voiced by Bariev is the claim that Ukraine’s Armed Forces “fight exclusively in the interests of NATO.”

Previously, Russian media claimed that the Russian Federation was at war with NATO, that the Armed Forces of Ukraine were managed by representatives from the Alliance, and that foreign mercenaries were fighting in the ranks of the Ukrainian Army. The new thesis is that the Russian Federation is at war with Ukraine, but the Ukrainians are defending the interests pursued by the United States and other members of the Alliance. At the same time, NATO is "trying to become a full-fledged party to the conflict."

The third trend is the statement that "the Ukrainian people have become a victim of NATO's policy," Bariev noted. According to him, this narrative has gained wide coverage since year-start. In this way, the Russians are trying to shift onto the Alliance the blame for their own crimes and convince at least part of Ukrainians that it’s NATO who provoked the war. They claim that the sacrifices made by the Ukrainian nation were in vain, pushing the people to put pressure on the country's leadership, demanding peace negotiations with the Russian Federation without Western mediation.

According to Bariyev, the Russians hope that the residents of Crimea will believe these fake stories and convince their family and friends in the unoccupied territories to follow suit.

The manager of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, Serhiy Parkhomenko, who answered a question of how Russian propaganda fakes changed during the year, concluded that the first six months into the full-scale invasion, propagandists claimed that it was NATO troops and "Nazis" were fighting against Russia in Ukraine. Since August 2022, there have been claims that Ukraine is actually a party to the conflict, but is not fighting to defend its own interests, but those of their "overseas masters". In the winter of 2023, the media of the aggressor state admitted that their army was at war with Ukraine, but they explained this by claiming that NATO had fooled the Ukrainians, trying to destroy the Russian Federation at Ukraine’s expanse.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, late last year, the Crimea Resource Center compiled a list of the most ridiculous fakes about NATO spread by Russian propaganda media in temporarily occupied Crimea: the purpose of the Maidan was to set up NATO bases in Crimea; NATO placed a biological weapons laboratory in Ukraine; NATO special services coordinated the operation involving Ukraine hijacking Russian planes; if NATO invades Crimea, Russia will strike London; the U.S. provides lend-lease to Ukraine, as it did to Germany during World War II; NATO considers Ukraine a disposable tool for war with Russia.