Untruthful claims, real war, dire consequences: understanding the narrative of the Russian invasion of Ukraine

This paper contributes to the scholarship on a war which was started in 2014 with the Russian annexation of the Crimea and combat in Eastern Ukraine. Most of the studies fell short of labelling it correctly, revealing causes and suggesting possible solutions because they did not consider the conflict in the broader perspective of Russian-Ukrainian relations. One of the reasons of this failure is a narrative about Ukrainian society which is created and spread by Russian politicians, diplomats, academics, and the media. This narrative has evolved to legitimize the Russian large-scale invasion by labelling it as “a special military operation.” Based on the data available, the paper provides a deconstruction of the current narrative, identifying its four main claims, and demonstrates that the declared premises are false. The realization of profound intentions aimed at imposing its own rule, which are embedded in the Russian narrative, means reversing a historical process of long-term national development and is only possible through the genocide of population of Ukraine within a sorely repressive occupation regime. Hence, the Russian colonial war against Ukraine is not justifiable, has disastrous and enduring consequences, and cannot be tolerated.