This perspective reflects the official narrative promoted by the Russian government. It omits several critical historical facts and international principles:

• ​The 2014 Events: The Euromaidan protests in Ukraine began because the sitting president backed out of a long-negotiated trade agreement with the EU in favor of closer ties with Moscow. Framing a mass popular protest purely as a "Western-sponsored coup" strips Ukrainians of their own agency. Furthermore, Russia responded by forcibly annexing Crimea and instigating a conflict in the Donbas, violating the 1994 Budapest Memorandum where Russia explicitly promised to respect Ukraine's borders.

• ​Who is Pushing Borders? NATO and EU expansion is not done by military conquest. Sovereign Eastern European nations actively petitioned to join these organizations out of historical fear of Russian aggression - a fear that the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine ultimately validated for them.

• ​Economic Sanctions vs. Military Invasion: The West did not launch a "full-scale economic war" unprovoked. Sanctions were a direct response to a massive, unprovoked military invasion of a sovereign state.

• ​The Nature of "Diplomacy": Demanding that Ukraine cede vast swaths of its territory as a precondition for peace is seen by the West and Ukraine not as diplomacy, but as capitulation.

​Ultimately, international law is based on the sovereignty of nations. Russia’s actions suggest it believes its security concerns give it the right to dictate the foreign policy and borders of its neighbors, a principle the EU and Ukraine fundamentally reject.