EUvsDisinfo: The Kremlin’s self-fulfilling curse
The week was extremely tense and dynamic on the international stage, marked by numerous high-level events and geopolitical flashpoints. From the escalation (and hopefully de-escalation) of the Israel-Iran conflict and the US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, to the historic NATO summit in The Hague and the expected strengthening of European leaders' commitment to defense and support for Ukraine at the style="color:#FF8C00;">the European Council meeting. The Kremlin's disinformation apparatus seemed to be struggling to keep up with the developments in this chaotic race.
So the Kremlin did what it does best - it resorted to the old lies about Western aggression and Russia's eternal victimhood. In fact, the Kremlin took advantage of the wide international coverage of these events to lend credibility to the distorted Russian worldview.
How dare they strengthen defense?
The false narrative of NATO expansion and its aggression toward Russia has long been a staple used to create siege mentality in Russia and mobilize support for the Kremlin's policies, especially the conduct of the unjustified aggressive war against Russia.
Thus, ahead of the NATO summit on June 24-25, pro-Kremlin spokespeople once again tried to portray the Alliance's defense efforts as aggressive toward Russia and to create the impression that that the increase in defense spending was a clear sign of NATO's aggressive intentions. One of their old claims also entered the repertoire – that the very existence of NATO is a threat to Russia. Or is it – that NATO fabricated the myth of Russian aggression in order to control taxpayers' money. Or that NATO's defense spending will lead to unsustainable debts and ruin Europe.
Desperate search for loopholes
Some commentators have brought a dose of optimism to counterbalance the gloomy narrative of NATO's historic and unprecedented defense spending boom. On the one hand, they set about pushing the misleading suggestion that there is division in NATO and these possible disagreements represent an existential threat from within the Alliance. On the other hand, they have taken to downplaying the significance of the agreed 5% target. This seems more like wishful thinking, considering the results of the summit.
In fact – By pursuing a fundamentally imperialist foreign policy, engaging in threats, violence and aggression against its neighbours and unilaterally starting the biggest war in Europe since World War II, Russia is damning itself. The more Moscow convinced itself that NATO had aggressive intentions towards it, the more aggressive it became, and Russia's unforgivable actions forced the allies to increase defence spending to a historic high. And no amount of disinformation and manipulation will be enough to erase this simple truth.
Europe as the new villain
Since the increase in defense spending will be borne mainly by European allies, the Kremlin has been quick to portray Europe as the new villain. Recent comments by EU High Representative and Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas on the importance of continued support for Ukraine have caused a sharp response. They have been used to reinforce the narrative of a “Russophobic“ Europe. This, combined with the discussion in the Council to pursue the Russian “shadow fleet“ in the 18th package of sanctions against Russia, keeps alive the myth of a belligerent Europe.
Long-term cementing of myths
Moscow spreads untruths about threats and aggression from the West not only sporadically and in connection with major international events. In fact, the Kremlin is waging a deliberate and sustained campaign of historical revisionism, including through rewriting and replacing history textbooks in schools, to indoctrinate Russian children and youth with the myth of Russia as the eternal victim and noble defender. All of this – in order to glorify Russian militarism and justify both past and future wars.
High-level events
Finally, perhaps to divert attention from Russia's international isolation, the Kremlin tried to inflate the importance of the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg. There was praise for the supposedly exceptional international scale of this year's event. And apparently the main message of this “bright forum“ was Putin's speech to the participants. The propaganda did not focus so much on the content of the speech, but rather indulged in praising Putin's masculinity for delivering “the longest speech in the history of the forum“. However, we notice something else. What really made an impression was Putin's remark: “Wherever a Russian soldier sets foot, it's ours.“ What a strange imperialist statement from a country that claims to never start wars.
Let's not be fooled!
Other topics in this week's EuvsDisinfo roundup:
- As a self-proclaimed defender of all that is decent and moral, the Kremlin is always quick to blame the “Anglo-Saxons“ for all the troubles in the world. Whether these troubles are real or invented is not important to Moscow. Thus, the Kremlin spreads false claims that the CIA is undermining traditional values in Moldova. This is a classic example of pro-Kremlin disinformation regarding the pride march in the capital of Moldova. Such baseless accusations aim to appeal to homophobic circles, misrepresenting activists and supporters of the LGBTIQ+ community as pawns used by the North Atlantic Alliance in the geopolitical game. The use of homophobia is a established technique in the Kremlin's strategy.
- As a fan of wishful thinking, the Kremlin says that the global majority of countries are on Russia's side. This statement was made in the context of the statementby the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas that “Russia poses a 360-degree threat to the world“. But the reality is quite different. The UN General Assembly has repeatedly condemned the Russian invasion. Only a small group of countries such as Belarus, Syria and North Korea have consistently supported Russia. This can hardly be called a “global majority“.
- Russia sees a mirror image of itself wherever it looks. So it is no surprise that the Kremlin projects its own twisted imperial logic. Thus, Russia claims that France is making Romania its colony and preparing it for war with Russia. Romania is a sovereign state and, as a member of the EU and NATO, it participates in multilateral decision-making frameworks without being forced upon it. Describing a democratically elected government as a puppet is a common attempt to undermine the legitimacy of democratic institutions and the will of the voters when they do not align with Russia's geopolitical ambitions.
EUvsDisinfo/ translation: European Commission Representation in Bulgaria