Russian propaganda intensifies its fake claim that “invasion of Ukraine was a coerced decision”

As the third year of Russia’s all-out war against Ukraine and the full-scale invasion that started it approaches, the Kremlin propaganda machine keeps bombarding audiences worldwide in attempts to justify its aggression.

The Kremlin propaganda media and pro-Russian outlets in Europe push their mantra that Russia was forced to attack Ukraine to prevent Ukraine’s attack—a groundless claim that sounds unrealistic.

The pro-Kremlin media outlets state that Russia had to step in to save the Russian-speaking community since Kyiv blatantly disregarded the Minsk peace agreement.

Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry, asserts that the true objective is to rid Ukraine of any Russian influence and establish a foothold in the fight against Russia.

According to her, Kyiv does not care about the situation of the Russian-speaking population of Donbas, which is why it did everything possible to “bury” the Minsk agreements, which provided real prospects for a peaceful settlement of the conflict.

In its thirteen points, the Minsk deal demanded, among other things, an end to the fighting in Donbas, the removal of heavy weaponry from the demarcation line separating Ukraine’s forces and Donbas armed separatist groups, and other steps toward a political resolution to the conflict.

In order to justify the invasion of Ukraine and an all-out war, Russian dictator Putin claimed that Kyiv had publicly declared its intention to not adhere to the Minsk agreements, which served as the impetus for the recognition of “the republics of Donbas.”

The truth is that Russia is fighting an imperial war in Ukraine, not a defensive one. Hence, the purpose of this Russian propaganda storyline is to rationalize Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and to cast Western politicians and the Ukrainian government in a negative light, as an analysis by disinformation watchdog Veridica has fount out.

According to Moscow’s narratives, following the Minsk Peace Agreements, “Ukraine sought to exterminate the Russian-speaking people; the West is using Ukraine as an entry point to attack Russia; the peace deal was only breached by Ukraine.”

On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the signing of the Second Minsk Peace Agreement, the spokesperson for Russia’s foreign ministry once again reinforced a cycle of misleading narratives about the nature of the conflict in Donbas. The Kremlin press cited Maria Zakharova, who, in order to justify Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, revives the false concept that Russian speakers in Donbas were victims of genocide by Ukraine.

Actually, the Kremlin-backed separatist organizations and mercenaries threatened citizens in the east of the country, prompting Ukrainian forces to take action as it’s required by the law. Reports indicate that Russian speakers in Ukraine have not faced any kind of persecution.

Despite Kremlin media’s consistent coverage of atrocities against the indigenous population in Donbas, international organizations such as the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in the East, and Human Rights Watch didn’t find such cases. But they did report on the crimes committed by Russia  against Crimean Tatars and other indigenous groups.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who considers Russian his mother tongue, is one of many Ukrainian politicians, activists, artists, and military who speak Russian. Despite Kyiv’s justifiable attempts to minimize Russian cultural influence on society throughout the war, the Russian language has been extensively utilized in Ukraine, particularly in the media, business, and everyday life.

The so-called DPR and LPR separatist groups were actual armed organizations backed by Russia. International investigations, satellite photos, eyewitness accounts, and others have revealed that the rebels received Russian military hardware, including weapons, equipment, and troops.

The Kremlin imported thousands of Russian mercenaries, including members of the Wagner Group, to fight against Ukraine on the side of Donbas separatists. Instead of fighting loose groups of armed citizens, the Ukrainian army encountered organized formations that had logistical, military, and financial backing from the Kremlin in the form of huge support networks. Can ordinary citizens acquire tanks, missiles, and advanced anti-aircraft systems?

Because of these reasons, in 2015, Ukraine labeled Russia as an aggressor state; the country views the 2022 invasion as the second phase of its war with Russia.

While Russian forces were physically present on Ukrainian state territory from 2014 to 2022, the West refrained from using the country as a “bridgehead” against Russia. However, Russia frequently uses this narrative to legitimize its aggression through propaganda.

To confront Russia’s aggression and support Ukraine’s sovereignty, the West’s missions have primarily focused on providing economic and diplomatic assistance. Despite never officially acknowledging Russia’s unlawful annexation of Crimea, Western nations have urged Moscow to pull its forces out of eastern Ukraine on multiple occasions.

The Ukrainian military had to resort to retaliation on multiple occasions to prevent Russian-backed armed groups from breaching the Minsk accord and invading more Ukrainian territories.

Zakharova is attempting to persuade the public that the conflict was fought between Ukrainian forces and Russian-speaking people, ignoring the fact that Russia has maintained a military presence in Donbas since 2014. Pro-Russian rebels and Russia relentlessly bombarded Ukrainian positions with heavy artillery, mortars, and drones regularly, rendering any attempt to resolve the conflict impossible. Russian-backed mercenaries broke the ceasefire accord hundreds of times, according to OSCE experts.

The Second Minsk Agreement, or Minsk-2, was inked on February 12, 2015, after talks in the Trilateral Contact Group—representing Ukraine, Russia, and the OSCE organization—came to a close. It aimed to stop the fighting in eastern Ukraine. Among the many provisions of the agreement were the following: the establishment of security zones, the calling of local elections in areas devastated by the conflict, the guarantee of access to the area for humanitarian organizations, and the cessation of hostilities.

Since the Russian Federation became directly involved, the implementation of the agreement has been fraught with problems, including persistent instability in the area and recurrent violations of the ceasefire. Finally, Russia used this unresolved conflict as a pretext to launch a full-scale invasion that it had been preparing for years between 2015 and February 2022.