Original article (in Albanian) was published on 17/3/2025; Author: Patris Pustina
After Ukrainian forces withdrew from Russia’s Kursk region, social media claims have emerged that ‘around 30 officers from NATO countries were surrounded’ by Russian forces.
However, this claim lacks evidence and seems to be based entirely on a statement from ‘Sergei Lebedev, coordinator of the pro-Russian Nikolaev resistance.’
The ‘news’ has only been reported by Russian media, which also cite Lebedev, and has not been confirmed by any official sources.
In July 2024, Sergei Lebedev was sentenced in absentia by a Ukrainian court to 15 years in prison for high treason under military law. The investigation showed that he had been working for Russian intelligence (FSB) in several capacities.
The first task was to gather intelligence on Ukrainian forces and coordinate Russian airstrikes on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure. At the same time, Lebedev played an active role in preparing paid narratives for Kremlin-affiliated TV channels, spreading fake news about Ukrainian forces and the front-line situation.
Investigators revealed that Lebedev was engaging informants through his Telegram channel, which had over 30,000 followers.
Claims about NATO troops’ presence in Kursk began circulating in 2024, following the entry of Ukrainian forces into the Kursk region of Russia on August 6, 2024.
On November 27, 2024, an advisor to the leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic claimed that NATO troops had joined Ukrainian armed forces during the fighting in the Kursk region as part of some kind of ‘experiment.’ However, this claim was not accompanied by any evidence at the time. Similarly, since that time, there has been no evidence to support this claim.
NATO troops are not fighting in Ukraine. The Alliance has consistently stated that it is not a party to the conflict and that no NATO troops are present on the ground in Ukraine. While NATO officials regularly engage with their Ukrainian counterparts and provide training and intelligence to Ukraine, the Alliance has not officially deployed troops to the front lines in Ukraine or the Kursk region of Russia.
‘NATO’s actions are defensive, designed not to provoke conflict but to prevent it. The Alliance has the responsibility to ensure that this war does not escalate and spread beyond Ukraine, which would be even more destructive and dangerous. The implementation of a no-fly zone or the deployment of combat troops in Ukraine would bring NATO forces into direct conflict with Russia. This would significantly escalate the war and lead to more suffering and human destruction for all countries involved,said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on March 23, 2022, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
There are foreign volunteers, including some from NATO member countries, fighting in the International Legion for the Defense of Ukraine. These volunteers joined the legion on their own and are not part of an official NATO military mission.
Russian President Putin has accused Ukrainian forces of committing crimes against civilians in Kursk, a claim that Kyiv denies. Ukraine states that approximately 11,000 North Korean troops are fighting alongside Russia in Kursk, although both Russia and North Korea have refused to provide any details about the presence of North Korean troops there. The narrative of NATO’s involvement in the fighting in Ukraine is risky, as it has often been used by Russia to amplify its threats, from declaring war on the North Atlantic Alliance to threatening nuclear war
