Vladimir Putin is using these conspiracy theories to justify his invasion of Ukraine

The real reason why Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine will almost certainly remain a mystery. However, Ilya Yablokov, a Russian historian, wrote an op-ed for The New York Timesexplaining various conspiracy theories the Russian President is using to justify his invasion.

Here is a brief summary of two of the more bizarre conspiracy theories he allegedly believes in.

NATO is using Ukraine as a military camp

It is widely known that Putin believes that there are Nazis in Ukraine. According to Ilya Yablokov, Putin also believes that NATO is using Ukraine as a military camp.

Yablokov labels NATO as a ‘convenient boogeyman’. He also explains that for the Russian President, NATO, the US and the military of ‘the collective West’ all mean the same thing.

In an essay that was published in July 2021, Putin claimed that Ukraine was completely controlled by the West and that NATO was militarising the country.

The LGBTQ+ movement is a plot against Russia

One of Vladimir Putin’s other bizarre conspiracy theories is that the whole LGBTQ+ movement is a plot against Russia.

Yablokov highlights Putin’s statement where he said the fact that in the West, ‘children can play five or six gender roles’ is a threat to Russia’s ‘core population’.

The Kremlin then launched an anti-LGBTQ+ scaremongering campaign, which seemed to work. Indeed according to Yablokov, one-fifth of Russians said they wanted to ‘eliminate’ LGBTQ+ members from Russian society.

According to Yablokov, Russian propaganda claims that the LGBTQ+ movement is an ‘invention of the West,’ designed to potentially ‘shatter Russian social stability’.

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