On several occasions, since the beginning of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, Kremlin’s propaganda has tried to twist the reasons why it went to war, i.e. to justify its attacks. The justification in this post is that the reason was to put an end to all wars which is quite illogical. Apart from that, NATO is a defence alliance and the fight against terrorism is its core goal, writes Truthmeter.mk.
We are fact-checking a post on the social media Facebook sharing a video material with a girl carrying balloons with the colors of the Russian flag and saying the following:
A world without NATO is a world without terrorism! Russia is leading a war to put an end to all wars!
Unlike the stated claim, NATO is an organization fighting against terrorism as a direct threat to the security of the citizens of all NATO member states and international stability and prosperity.
A persistent global issue that knows no border, nationality or religion, terrorism is a challenge that the international community must tackle together. NATO will continue to fight this threat with determination and in full solidarity. NATO’s work on counter-terrorism focuses on improving awareness of the threat, developing capabilities to prepare and respond and enhancing engagement with partner countries and other international actors, specifies the website of NATO.
NATO invoked its collective defense clause (Article 5) for the first and only time in response to the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 on the United States. NATO’s Counter-Terrorism guidelines focus on three main areas: awareness, capabilities, and engagement. NATO’s counter-terrorism work spans across the Alliance’s three core tasks: deterrence and defense, crisis prevention and management, and cooperative security.
A Terrorism Intelligence Cell has been established at NATO Headquarters. The NATO Secretary General’s Special Coordinator for Counter-Terrorism serves as the high-level focal point for all of NATO’s work on counter-terrorism and ensures that NATO’s response to terrorism remains strong, effective, and coherent.
In addition, NATO advises and assists Iraqi security forces and institutions through NATO Mission Iraq and is a member of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. NATO supports the development of new capabilities and technologies to tackle the terrorist threat and to manage the consequences of a terrorist attack. NATO cooperates with partners and international organizations against terrorism.
The Alliance’s strategic concept recognizes terrorism, in all its forms and manifestations, as the most direct asymmetric threat to the security of NATO citizens and to international peace and prosperity, elaborate from NATO.
Hence, NATO is not a terrorist organization, nor the non-existence of NATO would create a “terrorism-free world” as is falsely stated in the fact-checked post. On the contrary, proof of that is the membership of North Macedonia in NATO.
In 2023, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly reiterated its commitment to proceed with the defense of the global democratic order and condemnation of terrorism in all its forms, as previously.
Propaganda about an alleged end of all wars
The second part of the post states that ‘Russia is leading a war to put an end to all wars’, which is a propaganda narrative aimed at justifying the unprovoked military invasion of the sovereign state of Ukraine.
The narrative that NATO is inciting war and its purpose is to fight against Russia is part of the Russian propaganda aiming to present Ukraine as a servant to the Western states. Russia was the one that performed an unprovoked military invasion in Ukraine that has a legitimate right to defend itself and use all available resources and assistance of its friends. If Ukraine did not defend itself, it would have to face even greater territorial claims from Russia.
NATO is a defense alliance with the main goal to protect its members and the official NATO policy is that it does not seek confrontation and is not a threat to the Russian Federation. NATO did not invade Georgia, nor did it invade Ukraine – Russia did that. NATO has been addressing Russia for the last 30 years.
We worked together on issues ranging from counter-narcotics and counter-terrorism to submarine rescue and civil emergency planning, even during periods of NATO enlargement. But in response to Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and destabilisation of eastern Ukraine in 2014, NATO suspended practical cooperation with Russia. We do not seek confrontation, but we cannot ignore the fact that Russia is violating international rules, undermining our stability and security, specifies the website of NATO.
NATO’s website debunks several myths circulating from Kremlin propaganda sources.
NATO is not at war with Russia. We do not seek confrontation with Russia. NATO supports Ukraine in its right to self-defence, as enshrined in the UN Charter. In the last few months, we undertook only defence measures to increase the presence of NATO troops in the eastern part of the Alliance.
This makes sure that there is no room for misunderstandings in Moscow about our readiness to protect and defend our allies. Our main tasks is to sustain our 30 nations secure. We are responsible to make sure that the conflict does not escalate and spread outside of Ukraine because that would be even more devastating and more dangerous, specifies NATO’s website.
Due to all of the above-noted facts, the fact-checked post is assessed as untrue.
