On May 30, the Facebook page of “TVImedi” published a post, the description of which features the following quote from the French publication France24 of March 8, 2022: “President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he is no longer pressing for NATO membership for Ukraine, a delicate issue that was one of the reasons for Russia to invade its pro-Western neighbour.” The same text is also attached to the photo of Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The post of “Imedi TV” was also published by the pro-government expert Irakli Lataria.
A post with the same content was published on May 31 by the Facebook page of Gia Gachechiladze’s “Ar Agarevinebt” campaign. The description of the post states that Garibashvili did not say anything new about NATO expansion, as Zelensky said the same thing in 2022.
The disseminated quote is manipulative. In March 2022, Zelenskyy stated that he no longer insists on joining NATO, although he did not name Ukraine’s desire to join NATO as one of the reasons for Russia’s aggression. In addition, the said assessment, which belongs to France24, is published with an inaccurate translation. The publication notes that this was one of Russia’s stated reasons for invading Ukraine.
On March 8, 2022, the French publication, in fact, published an article stating that Ukraine is no longer pressing on NATO membership. The information was based on an interview with ABC News with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
However, in the interview, Zelenskyy did not say that one of the reasons for Russia’s aggression was Ukraine’s desire to join NATO. The second part of the quote covered by “Imedi” – “this is a delicate issue, which was one of the reasons of Russia’s invasion of the pro-Western neighbour” – is the assessment of France 24; however, the Georgian translation provided by “Imedi” is inaccurate and changes the content of the quote.
The translation by “TV Imedi” does not show that France24 does not mention NATO expansion as the reason for the invasion of Ukraine. In fact, the publication notes that this is the reason provided by Russia for the invasion of Ukraine.
| The Quote in English | Translation by TV Imedi |
| President Volodymyr Zelensky said he is no longer pressing for NATO membership for Ukraine, a delicate issue that was one of Russia’s stated reasons for invading its pro-Western neighbor. | President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he is no longer pressing for NATO membership for Ukraine, a delicate issue that was one of the reasons for Russia to invade its pro-Western neighbor. |
Notably, the Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Garibashvili, named the desire to join NATO as one of the reasons for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine during the discussion held in Bratislava within the framework of the Global Security Forum (GLOBSEC).
The interview, which was covered by France24, was given by Zelenskyy to ABC News less than two weeks after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. At that time, the battle for the Kyiv region was in place. At the initial stage of the war, Zelenskyy expressed his desire to negotiate with Putin, and this is also mentioned in this interview. In an interview with ABC News, Zelenskyy said that NATO was not ready to accept Ukraine and that he did not want to be the President of a country that was on its knees and demanded something. In the same interview, Zelenskyy also spoke about his readiness to negotiate with Putin regarding the status of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. However, during the course of the war, both the desire to negotiate with Putin and the attitude towards joining NATO changed.
In September 2022, after an illegal referendum on joining Russia was held in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, Zelenskyy announced that as long as Putin was President, there would be no talks between Ukraine and Russia. The Ukrainian side expressed the same attitude several times. On September 30, 2022, just a few hours after the illegal annexation of four regions of Ukraine by Russia, Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine would submit an application to join NATO in an accelerated manner. In his address, the President of Ukraine noted that Ukraine was already a de facto part of NATO and de facto proved that it complies with the alliance’s standards. Joining NATO is still one of Ukraine’s future goals. On May 4, 2023, Zelensky noted that Ukraine is realistic about the issue and does not expect that Ukraine would be able to join NATO during the war. However, the President denoted the need for a guarantee for Ukraine to become a member of the alliance after the defeat of Russia and the end of the war.
About the Source
The Facebook page ”Ar Agarevinebt” is a page of Gia Gachechiladze’s movement of the same name. The page is pro-governmental and is aimed at discrediting the opposition. Gachechiladze announced the public initiative “Ar Agarevinebt!” in April 2022. On May 5, 2022, the Facebook page of the same name was created. The page was active until February 8, 2023. On February 8, the page published a post, according to which its posts were restricted from being shared on Facebook. The post contains a link to the new page for its subscribers.
The pages have been involved in a number of discreditation campaigns revealed by “Myth Detector.” In addition, the pages have also been disseminating manipulative content on Facebook. For more details, see:
- Sponsored Posts and Pro-Governmental Actors Against the Members of the European Parliament
- Messages of Pro-Governmental and Pro-Kremlin Actors Against the Tbilisi International Conference ‘Glory to Ukraine’
- Lisa Yasko or Inga Grigolia – Who Called Saakashvili “My Beloved Man?”
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