The Kremlin media reported on a secret document published in Sweden, from which it follows that the war in Ukraine was provoked by the United States in order to destroy the economy of the EU and, above all, Germany. "Izvestia" in an article under the heading "" Media published a document on US plans to destroy the EU economy" writes :
“Secret strategist memorandum from Pentagon-linked RAND Corporation, dated January 2022, released. It was published by the Swedish newspaper Nya Dagbladet .
The document refers to the US plans to completely destroy the economy of Europe due to the conflict in Ukraine. At the same time, the central role in this, as stated in the article, was assigned to the current government of Germany, which is the leading economy of the EU.
According to the memorandum, the key goal is to destroy cooperation between the FRG and Russia, as well as between the FRG and France. The text of the document states that if this scenario is realized, Europe will become not only an economic but also a political rival of the United States.
“The only possible way to get Germany to refuse Russian energy supplies is to involve both sides in a military conflict in Ukraine. Our further actions in this country will inevitably lead to a military response from the Russian Federation. Russia is clearly not going to leave the massive pressure of the Ukrainian army on the republics of Donbass without a military response. This would make it possible to present Russia as an aggressor, and then to impose against it the entire package of sanctions that has already been prepared,” the article says.
It is also added that the adoption of restrictions against Moscow will deprive Germany of access to energy resources from Russia. The consequence of the termination of Russian supplies will be a crisis in Germany. Losses could reach €200-300 billion. This will lead to the collapse of European industry, rising unemployment and the migration of educated Europeans to the United States.”
In the same vein, he describes the Swedish publication Lenta.ru. And EurAsia Daily adds the details:
“Controlled Crisis. The United States stopped the implementation of Nord Stream 2. Completely cut off Germany from the supply of Russian energy is possible through the involvement of Germany in a military confrontation with the Russian Federation in Ukraine. US actions in Ukraine will undoubtedly lead to a Russian military intervention. The introduction of pre-prepared packages of sanctions will cut Germany off from access to Russian raw materials. The dogmatism of the Green Party and the unprofessionalism of their leaders, Annalena Burbock and Robert Habek, will guarantee this.”
The document published by the Swedish edition is dated January 25, 2022. The fact that it refers to the blocking of the commissioning of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline as a fait accompli is already strange: at that time, the process of certification of the gas pipeline was underway, which was stopped only on February 22 in connection with Russia’s recognition of the self-proclaimed DPR and LPR, and after the beginning of a full-scale war, its Western participants left the project.
The fact-checkers of the international online publication Logically analyzed the document and found several more errors and strange moments in it. So, on the cover page of the report it is indicated that it is intended for the White House chief of staff, assistant to the president for national security, the State Department, the CIA, the NSA and the Democratic National Committee. But the RAND Corporation is a nonpartisan organization; Logically's fact- checkers note that expressing explicit political preferences, even in confidential reports, would likely jeopardize funding or client relationships. Moreover, on its website, RAND lists all clients, and the White House, CIA and NSA are not among them.
The document states: “Unauthorized posting of this publication on the Internet is prohibited; a direct link to her webpage at rand.org is welcome." Of course, there is no such page on the corporation's website. The link for more information about the report leads to the main page of the RAND website.
The report says the US economy has been hit by a lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. But there was no lockdown at the national level in the United States. The chambers of the US legislature are referred to in the report as the Congress and the Senate. In fact, the Congress is a bicameral parliament, consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
In addition, the report uses the verb neutralise , but this is the British English spelling. An American would write neutralize . Fact checkers also drew attention to the misuse of the articles a , an and the .
The online publication Nya Dagbladet , which published the document, is associated with the small far-right National Democrats, a splinter group from the Swedish Democrats. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the publication spread conspiracy theories about the dangers of vaccination. It also featured publications denying the Holocaust and claiming that ethnic diversity led to white genocide.
A link to the publication of the Swedish edition appeared on the official Twitter account of the Russian embassy in Sweden and has not yet been removed.