Original article (in Bosnian) was published on 25/03/2022
Sputnik Srbija published an article quoting the former Ukrainian prime minister, who stated that Russia prevented NATO from starting World War III. These are unfounded and incorrect statements.
On March 4, 2022, the website Sputnik Srbija published an article entitled:
Former Ukrainian prime minister: Russia prevented NATO from starting the World War III
The article reports that former Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, who held the position from 2010 to 2014, posted claims on his Facebook profile suggesting that NATO allegedly planned to start World War III using nuclear weapons against Russia.
According to him, Russia’s attack on Ukraine followed to thwart the alleged NATO plan.
First, it is stated that NATO allegedly planned to attack Ukraine at the end of 2022:
Since December 2021, Russia has received information about the Alliance’s plans to deploy four military brigades on the territory of Ukraine (two land brigades, one naval and one air brigade), including an air brigade with the possibility of carrying nuclear warheads. NATO wanted to agree on the introduction of forces in the summer of 2022 at the session of the UN Security Council. Then, most likely at the end of the year, they would provoke a conflict and launch real military actions against Russia using nuclear weapons, Azarov wrote on his Facebook page.
It is further claimed that Ukrainian troops were preparing an attack on Donbas on February 25:
He also stated that Ukrainian troops led by nationalist battalions were preparing to launch a military operation in Donbas on February 25.
“Fateful decisions were made the day before the start of the war to exterminate the Russian-speaking population in Donbas. The Ukrainian army, under the leadership of nationalist battalions, was preparing to launch a military operation in Donbas on February 25, 2022”, Azarov claims.
As the only source and proof of his claims, Azarov mentioned “intelligence data on the preparation of this provocation”.
“Only now has there been an opportunity to publish intelligence data on the preparation of provocations followed by a treacherous coup and the destruction of the population on the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) and the Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR). Putin was ahead of Ukraine and NATO, and he has, in fact, saved hundreds of thousands of lives of the citizens of the republics”, the former prime minister emphasized.
Sputnik’s article further explains the alleged details of the NATO plan. However, in the following sentence, it is stated that “the Ukrainian plan was developed in partnership with the United States”, and it is unclear which plan is discussed below – NATO’s or the Ukrainian one. As another proof of his claims, Azarov cited the “intercepted map of the attack on Donbas”, which was allegedly published by the self-proclaimed Donetsk Republic, a week before the Russian invasion.
NATO’s plan for Ukraine foresaw the siege of Kaliningrad with the help of the Polish army. As he says, the Ukrainian plan of attacks on DNR and LNR was developed in partnership with America.
“There is a belief that this plan was developed with the patrons from NATO, considering that the Americans previously transferred about five thousand of their soldiers to Poland, plus the Polish army was also there. According to the plan, they were supposed to block the Kaliningrad group, so it would not be able to advance towards the attacked territory of southeastern Ukraine”, Azarov explained.
He also emphasized that NATO’s plan for Ukraine foresaw that forces from Romanian territory would block peacekeeping forces in Transnistria.
According to him, a week before the start of the Russian military operation, the DNR reported on the intercepted map of the attack on Donbas. He added that it was clearly indicated when the strikes would be carried out, and using which units and weapons.
The article ends with Sputnik’s allegations, in which Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is called a “special operation” aimed at “demilitarization and denazification” of this country. It is also claimed that the Russian army does not inflict “strikes on cities” and that its target is military infrastructure.
The article was then published by 12 other websites in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as in Serbia and Montenegro. Some of these include Alternativna, Banjaluka, Alo, Espresso, IN4S, and others.
Where do these claims come from?
At the end of the article, Sputnik also reminded us of the claims made by the President of the State Duma of Russia, Vyacheslav Volodin, who said that “if Russia did not immediately launch a special military operation in Ukraine, NATO would launch its operation literally the next day”. Sputnik’s article on Vyacheslav Volodin’s statements, attached in this article, does not provide any details or evidence of the alleged NATO plan. However, Mykola Azarov followed up on this official Russian narrative, which he further expanded.
While sharing the statements of the former prime minister of Ukraine, Sputnik Srbija and other media that published the article, did mention that these are allegations that represent speculations and theories for which there is no evidence. Instead, his statements were presented as indisputable facts, further reinforced by recalling similar statements made by Russian officials.
Are there “intelligence data” and an intercepted map of the attacks that Azarov mention?
Azarov himself does provide arguments for his claim that NATO “prepared for the third world war”, which was allegedly thwarted by Russia’s attack on Ukraine. As the only source and proof of his claims, Azarov inaccurately states “intelligence data on the preparation of the provocation”, which he says “only now has the opportunity to publish” it. It is not specified which and whose exact “intelligence data” is meant. Also, it is not stated whether they have already been published and where, nor has any evidence been provided for their existence.
However, the search revealed a document that the Russian Ministry of Defense claims is evidence that Ukraine planned to attack the Donbas region. This document was published on March 9, five days after Sputnik published an article with Azarov.
The document was reported by numerous world media, such as the BBC, on March 9. Citing Reuters, the BBC states that Russia claims to have come into possession of secret documents proving Ukraine’s alleged plans to attack Donbas. However, Reuters failed to prove the authenticity of the document, which was written in the Ukrainian language and which, according to Reuters, seems to represent the combat preparations of tactical military units.
Ukrainian fact-checking portal Stop Fake also published an analysis on March 9, 2022, in which it found that a document published in the Russian media actually referred to a military training camp in the Lviv region, which is not located in the Donbas region at all. The document is not classified, nor does it mention the “offensive” in Donbas, but refers to planning a military training camp. The camp is organized once a year, according to Stop Fake.
Azarov did not specify whether he meant this document or some other, but the fact is that this is the only document that Russian institutions claim to be a “plan for Ukraine’s attack on Donbas”. This document was published after Azarov made his claims, and there are no other data that correspond to what he states.
By searching for keywords related to the allegedly intercepted maps of Ukraine’s attacks on Donbas, which, according to Azarov, were reported by the self-proclaimed DNR, it is not possible to find results that would show that such maps exist.
What kind of American soldiers are we talking about in Poland?
Azarov says the United States transferred 5,000 troops to Poland and implies it is part of an alleged plan to provoke war. However, although 5,000 troops were indeed deployed in Poland, this was not done to “provoke a war”. It was conducted as a measure due to the danger of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. On February 12, 2022, Polish Minister of Defense Mariusz Blaszczak spoke about additional troops, and his statements were shared by TVP World.
Nearly 5,000 soldiers from the US 82nd Airborne Division will join US troops stationed in Poland for some time. The troops will be stationed in the southeastern regions of Poland, along with British troops, who also arrived recently, the Polish defense minister announced.
Russia has been making similar accusations for years, each time without evidence
Russia has previously accused Ukraine of planning an attack on Donbas. One such accusation was published in April 2021. Ukraine has denied it, and the alleged planned attack did not take place (1). Similarly, Russia accused Ukrainian forces of staging “provocations” in eastern Ukraine in 2021, as the BBC wrote in Serbian in an analysis published on April 3, 2021.
Russia has used such accusations for an official narrative, shared in the media under the control of this country, such as Sputnik, which justifies the invasion of Ukraine.
In the analysis published by Raskrinkavanje on March 16, 2022, a similar claim was made, according to which Ukraine allegedly tried to develop nuclear weapons in cooperation with the West. It was established that this was fake news and a completely fabricated claim for which there is no evidence. In addition, this claim falls within the realm of narratives justifying Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. An analysis of the fictitious allegations that Ukraine has developed nuclear weapons can be read at the link below.
Furthermore, in Raskrinkavanje’s analysis, published on March 5, 2022, attached below, you can read more about the Russian invasion of Ukraine being called “peace operation”, “special military operation and a “counter-offensive”.
https://raskrinkavanje.ba/analiza/ne-postoji-kontraofanziva-rusije-u-ukrajini
Who, in fact, is Azarov?
Earlier this year, in January, the official website of the United Kingdom’s government announced that Russia planned to install a pro-Russian leader in Ukraine. Azarov, Ukraine’s former prime minister, has been described as a pro-Russian candidate, according to a statement made by Liz Truss, the foreign minister.
Given all the facts, we assess the claim about “intelligence data” which allegedly reveals that Ukraine planned an attack on Donbas and the destruction of the population, as fake news since such data do not exist.
We also assess the claim suggesting that there are “intercepted maps of attacks on Donbas” to be fake news.
We assess the claim that Russia prevented NATO from starting the Third World War as a conspiracy theory.
We also assess the allegations about sending an additional 5,000 US troops to Poland as part of an alleged plan to start a war against Russia as manipulation of facts, as 5,000 troops have been deployed to Poland, but not to allow NATO to start a “third world war”, but due to the dangers of Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
