7 myths from Russian Propaganda

The truth is not a middle ground between facts and lies.

Myth #1: It's Putin war

It's a Russian war, not just Putin's. The majority of Russian citizens genuinely share the idea that a "strong man" is better than democracy and actively support Putin's war, as we can see from Russian demonstrations in Berlin in favor of the war. These Russians in Germany are free and have unlimited access to the internet, yet they strongly support their dictator. They believe in the rule of force instead of the rule of law and consider it normal to take things by force if you can.

Myth #2: NATO promised Russia “not to expand”

Gorbachev himself declared that this promise was never made, neither to USSR nor Russia. The famous US promise of “not one inch eastward” was made during the fall of the Berlin Wall, and was explicitly concerning the Soviet part of Germany, and it was, again, explicitly written in the official deal that the rest of Europe was not concerned by this promise since all countries are free to choose who they want to ally with. Putin conveniently omitted this part in his 2007 Munich speech complaining the US was “breaking their promise” about NATO expansion.

Myth #3: NATO provocated Russia

Neither NATO nor any member countries have ever threatened Russia, directly or indirectly, in the last 80 years.

NATO is a defense organization, not an offensive alliance. Members choose to join it voluntarily, precisely to defend themselves against Russia. There is no such thing as NATO "enlargement" as if it were an entity spreading. Countries living around Russia are fearful of a Russian invasion, and for good reason, as Russia has brutally invaded virtually all of its neighbors in the last 80 years, including Georgia in 2008, and the ongoing invasion of Ukraine since 2014. Each time involves the intentional mass murder of civilians, widespread rapes, and state-organized child stealing, among many barbaric actions.

Putin pretends that Russia is under the threat of Ukraine potentially joining NATO, and that this would allow NATO to push forces closer to Moscow. However, firstly, Ukraine is a free country, not a Russian oblast, and secondly, the very foundation of NATO is that it can only be used for defensive purposes, rendering Putin's arguments meritless.

Myth #4: the West humiliated Russia

The fall of the Soviet Union is considered a catastrophe by many Russians, and the declaration of independence of the former Soviet states is seen as treason. Many Russians feel that they "built" Ukraine and "made it rich." The idea that Ukraine abandoned Russia at the worst time has made many Russians antipathetic to the Ukrainian government, which they perceive as having "backstabbed" them and gotten away with the "jewels" of the Soviet Union. However, this is Russian propaganda. Ukraine was not made rich by Russia; it was exploited by Russia as a food-producing and industrial area due to its unique geographic advantages.

With past invasions, the fall of the USSR, and the lack of significant economic success compared to the West or China since then, many Russians have a sense of inferiority vis-à-vis the West. National pride is at stake, fueling both irrational fears and a willingness to take revenge in one way or another. Of course, all these lies come from Kremlin propaganda in all media, including payments to Western writers. Still, most of the Russian population wrongly believes that the West is threatening them.

Myth #5: Crimea and Dombas held democratic referendums to decide which country they should belong to

Russia did organize a referendum, but only after invading these areas, which means they asked only the pro-Russians, after killing (in Donbas) or deporting (in Crimea) all the people not supporting Russia. These referendums were organized with pro-Russian armed guards in front of the voting places to ensure that no opponents could come and vote. It's as if the Nazis organized a referendum on the Holocaust with Gestapo officers waiting for Jews at the voting place. All Ukrainian radio and TV channels were replaced by Russian ones, and all street campaigns were solely pro-Russia. These fake referendums were not even legal according to Russian election laws, which are already some of the lowest democratic standards in the world. In a nutshell, these referendums are just part of the propaganda to try to legitimize mass murders and invasions.

Myth #6: The US use the Russia-Ukraine crisis to divert attention

The US doesn’t need Russia to “divert the attention” of the US public from other US problems, as China already captures all the attention. Only Putin has a clear interest in weakening NATO and the EU, and he chose to invade Ukraine in the middle of winter, in one of the worst energy crises, knowing he has power over Europe with his gas.

Some journalists even insinuate that NATO would want to exploit the crisis to show strength after failing to protect Ukraine and Georgia, reassuring countries like the Baltics. However, the US has no interest in jumping into another quagmire after the Afghanistan fiasco, especially at a time when they would prefer to focus all their attention on China.

Myth #7: Ukraine is part of Russia

In July 2021, Putin rewrote Ukraine’s history and denied them the right to be independent. First, Ukraine’s population exist for more than 34,000 years, and independent Ukraine identity since middle age. Only recent history (mostly USSR) ties them to Russia.

Second, the argument that a country should become again the slave of another one simply because they have been a slave of this other country for a long time in the past is completely immoral and repugnant. It’s called the appeal to tradition fallacy.

In fact, Russia tries to erase the Ukrainian culture for 90 years. Stalin tried to mass kill all the Ukrainians in 1932-1933 through what is called Holodomor, or “extermination by famine”, by orchestrating mass shortages of food production. 3.9 million Ukrainians died. Later, he tried to put as many Russians as he could in Ukraine, to “mix” them with Ukrainian in an attempt to lower the Ukrainian will to become independent. Nowadays, Putin rewrote history in his favor, pretending that Russia and Ukraine would be a single culture.