{"id":17000,"date":"2023-08-30T18:09:26","date_gmt":"2023-08-30T15:09:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/factcheck.bg\/?p=17000"},"modified":"2025-02-16T00:24:08","modified_gmt":"2025-02-15T22:24:08","slug":"this-is-the-kremlin-speaking-nato-and-the-usa-are-an-aggressor-and-evil-doer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/factcheck.bg\/en\/this-is-the-kremlin-speaking-nato-and-the-usa-are-an-aggressor-and-evil-doer\/","title":{"rendered":"This is the Kremlin speaking: NATO and the USA are an \u2018aggressor\u2019 and \u2018evil-doer\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201eNATO\/USA attack sovereign countries on a whim\u201c.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201eNATO\/USA make up their own rules and impose them on other countries\u201c.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201eNATO\/USA are fighting against Russia in Ukraine\u201c.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

These claims are widespread in Bulgaria and have been getting an extra boost since the beginning of Russia\u2019s aggression in Ukraine on 24 February 2022. They are spreading both on social networks and on traditional news media. You can come across them in television interviews, in \u2018analyses\u2019 on various websites and blogs. They appear as political cartoons and collages on Facebook and TikTok. They are repeated both by ordinary users and by opinion leaders \u2013 politicians, journalists, experts (at least according to the way they are presented to the public).<\/span><\/p>\n

One thing all those claims have in common is their source: they all originate from the Kremlin. They are a fixed presence in political documents and the public statements of the Russian political elite, including president Vladimir Putin – starting with the famous 2007 Munich speech, onto the 2014 Crimea speech and all his addresses at the start of the \u2018special military operation\u2019 in 2022.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In his <\/span>Munich speech<\/span><\/a> Putin criticised the \u201cunilateral and frequently illegitimate actions\u201d, the \u201cuncontained hyper use of force\u201c and the imposing of the US legal system on other states \u201cin all spheres\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

In his <\/span>Crimea speech<\/span><\/a> on 18 March 2014 Putin was much more explicit in his accusations against the USA and the world order dominated by them:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201eAfter the dissolution of bipolarity on the planet, we no longer have stability. Key international institutions are not getting any stronger; on the contrary, in many cases, they are sadly degrading. Our western partners, led by the United States of America, prefer not to be guided by international law in their practical policies, but by the rule of the gun. They have come to believe in their exclusivity and exceptionalism, that they can decide the destinies of the world, that only they can ever be right. They act as they please: here and there, they use force against sovereign states, building coalitions based on the principle \u201cIf you are not with us, you are against us.\u201d To make this aggression look legitimate, they force the necessary resolutions from international organisations, and if for some reason this does not work, they simply ignore the UN Security Council and the UN overall.\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"