China Hopes US Stops Spreading Disinformation on Ukraine

BEIJING (Sputnik) - China believes that US efforts to fuel a Russian threat have severely damaged Ukraine's economy and social stability, and expresses the hope that the spread of misinformation will stop, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Wednesday.

Last Friday, Bloomberg claimed, citing an anonymous source, that Russia plans to invade Ukraine on 15 February, by inciting provocation in the breakaway region of Donbas or launching an assault on Kiev. On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Western campaign on an alleged Russian incursion into Ukraine constitutes information terrorism while reiterating that Russian troops perform military exercises on its own territory and on its own schedule, which should not concern any country.

"For days, the US has been playing up the threat of war and creating an air of tension. This has gravely impacted the economy, social stability and people’s lives in Ukraine, and added obstacles to advancing dialogue and negotiation between parties concerned", Wang said at a briefing.

He added that the Chinese side paid attention to Russia's recent statement that the West resorted to "information terrorism" in the Ukrainian crisis while noting that " 15 February 2022, will go down in history as the day of the failure of Western propaganda".

US and Ukrainian soldiers attend an opening ceremony of the joint Ukrainian-US military exercise "Fearless Guardian" at the Yavoriv training ground.

© AFP 2023 / YURIY DYACHYSHYN

"We must point out that it is exactly the persistent hyping and dissemination of disinformation by some in the West that has added more turbulence and uncertainty to the world already fraught with challenges and intensified distrust and division", Wang said.

He also noted that the US actions have deepened the fault lines between the parties involved, hampering dialogue and negotiation.

"We hope relevant parties can stop such disinformation campaign and do more things that benefit peace, mutual trust and cooperation," Wang added.

Earlier in the month, the United States and its European allies claimed that Russia amassed over 100,000 troops at the Ukrainian border, plotting an invasion that may occur "at any moment".

The US pledged to increase additional troops dispatched in Poland up to 5,000, while NATO urged allies to provide military aid to Ukraine to deter potential aggression on the alliance's eastern flank. Moscow has repeatedly denied having any intention of invading any country, saying that inflated fears are used as a pretext for advancing NATO's military presence in Eastern Europe.