One of the three elephants on which Russian propaganda relies, justifying aggression against Ukraine – Russia did not attack Ukraine, it launched a “special military operation”. Such an artificial term was deliberately invented by Kremlin propagandists in order to soften the interpretation of what in the civilized world is called war, to demonstrate that these are internal Russian affairs – simply the Russian authorities restoring order in their rebellious provinces. However, lies have the property of being exposed at a certain point in time. And it often happens that the very liars who came up with them, themselves expose them. This is what happened with the Kremlin dictator and one of the main messages of propaganda.
Manipulation / False
On September 1, 2025, Putin arrived in China for a meeting of SCO leaders and to participate in the celebrations organized by Beijing on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. The Kremlin dictator made a general speech there on the topic of “the geopolitical situation in the world”.
Among other messages, he stated the following: “The crisis in Ukraine did not arise as a result of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, but as a result of a coup d’état, which was supported and provoked by the West. The second reason for the crisis is the West’s constant attempts to draw Ukraine into NATO, which, as we have said many times, poses a direct threat to Russia’s security. By the way, in 2014, the political leadership of the country that did not support Ukraine’s accession to NATO was removed…” https://surl.lu/aklpos
Briefly, we note that Putin used the manipulative propaganda terms “crisis in Ukraine” and “coup d’état”, which have already become traditional for Russian propaganda, with which it labels Russia’s war against Ukraine and the Revolution of Dignity of 2014.
The key phrase in the Kremlin dictator’s message is: “…The crisis in Ukraine did not arise as a result of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, but as a result of…” In fact, Putin says in it that there was an attack! Even if he was not the cause of the “crisis”. Thus, the Kremlin leader admits the fact of the attack! And this exposes both his previous statements, which are lies, and the statements of all representatives of the Kremlin’s top brass and propagandists. Here are some examples:
– Putin himself in a speech on the night of the attack on Ukraine on February 24, 2022: “In this regard and in accordance with Article 51, Part 7 of the UN Charter, with the sanction of the Federation Council of Russia and in implementation of the treaties of friendship and mutual assistance with the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic ratified by the Federal Assembly on February 22 of this year, I have decided to conduct a special military operation…” https://surl.li/wzysur
– Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov on June 16, 2022 in an interview with the BBC: “Russia did not attack Ukraine. We announced a special military operation when there was no longer any way to explain to the West…” https://surl.lu/fvjaro
– Vladimir Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov on March 23, 2024: “In essence, after the collective West entered the conflict, it turned into a war for us. This is not related to any legal changes. This is a special military operation de jure” https://surl.li/lsggbi
So, as we see in all previous statements, official Kremlin representatives denied the very fact of the attack, telling tales about “their own”. And in Beijing, something went wrong with Putin – the fact of the attack was recognized.
Another message from Putin, which sounds in the background in this statement, but is a manipulation – that supposedly “the West is drawing Ukraine into NATO”.
Firstly, it is Ukrainians, as citizens of the country, who determine the country’s movement in the EU and NATO. And it was the Russian aggression in 2014 in the form of the occupation of Crimea and the hybrid war in eastern Ukraine that radically changed the views of Ukrainians on joining the EU and NATO, and accordingly the actions of the Ukrainian authorities, which are guided by data on the mood of their citizens.
Secondly, according to sociological surveys, by February 2005, 18.5% of Ukrainians supported NATO membership, while 54.2% did not support it. Support for the prospect of NATO membership was at a record low in early 2006: 15.4% of Ukrainians were “for”, 63.9% were “against”.
By 2010-2011, support for Ukraine’s accession to the North Atlantic Alliance had increased to 24%. At the same time, 64-65% of citizens did not support such an idea.
A year before the annexation of Crimea and the start of the war in Donbas, only 18% of Ukrainians wanted the country to join NATO, 67% were against.
After the annexation of Crimea and the start of the events in the east, support for NATO membership increased by more than 2.5 times: in September 2014, 47.8% of Ukrainians were in favor of joining the organization, 32.4% were against.
In the summer of 2021, according to a survey, 47.8% of Ukrainians supported possible accession to NATO – against the background of the growing Russian threat, the figure returned to the level of 2014. 24.3% of citizens spoke out against membership.
As of October 2022, support for Ukraine’s membership in the organization among the population is at a record high – 83% would support this idea in a referendum. The record low percentage of opponents is 4%. https://surli.cc/iernwj
In 2025, the majority of Ukrainians support joining the European Union and NATO: almost 70% of Ukrainians are ready to vote for joining the European Union in the near future. This is evidenced by a survey conducted by the Janus Institute for Strategic Research and Forecasting, the SOCIS Center for Social and Marketing Research, and the Public Sentiment Barometer. According to the respondents’ answers, the number of people who would vote for Ukraine’s accession to the EU and NATO is approximately the same: 68.9% for the EU, and 62.5% for NATO. https://surl.li/bgysge
