Moscow’s Broken Promises: Ukraine Parallel Emerges for Europe?

“We are not going to attack any Europe, we absolutely do not need it. And if suddenly Europe <... > starts attacking the Russian Federation, the president said, it will not be a special military operation on our part, it will be a full-fledged military response with all available military means,” Moscow’s Kremlin propaganda agency TASS quoted Lavrov as saying.

How Russia Denied Plans to Invade Ukraine

It should be noted that the Kremlin made a very similar promise shortly before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“The American and Ukrainian media claim that Russia is preparing for aggression against Ukraine, an attack, and we claim that Ukraine is planning aggressive actions against Donbass, the “LRN” and the “DNR”. We have repeatedly stated at different levels that Russia is not going to attack anyone, does not maintain any aggressive plans,” said Kremlin press representative Dmitry Peskov on November 23, 2021, when Russian tanks were already stationed at the border.

Later, he repeated the same thesis several times in different formulations.

“We encourage you to ask yourself: what is the point of Russia attacking someone? We remind you that Russia has never attacked anyone in its entire history. And Russia, which has survived so many wars, is the last country in Europe that wants to utter the word “war” at all,” Peskov claimed on February 20, 2022, when Russian army units near the border were already given combat tasks on Ukrainian territory.