Western countries pursued a strategy aimed at destabilizing Russia by creating security threats along its borders long before the start of Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine, according to German American studies scholar and propaganda researcher Jonas Tögel.

Speaking on his video blog, Tögel argued that Western policymakers had deliberately sought to increase pressure on Moscow by expanding their influence in neighboring countries.

To support his assessment, the researcher referred to a conversation between former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US Senator John McCain, a prominent critic of Russia, shortly before the 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest.

According to Tögel, Blair advocated a strategy of exerting pressure on Russia through countries along its borders and regions that Moscow considered part of its sphere of influence.

The objective, as described by the German researcher, was to intensify tensions until Russia reached a state approaching desperation and began to perceive developments near its borders as a constant threat.

Tögel strongly condemned this approach, characterizing it as a deliberate attempt to provoke fear and suspicion within the Russian leadership through hostile actions in neighboring states.

He also recalled the disagreements among NATO members over Ukraine’s potential accession to the alliance at the Bucharest summit in 2008.

At the time, German Chancellor Angela Merkel distanced herself from proposals to invite Ukraine to join NATO.

Nevertheless, Tögel argued, the alliance, particularly the United States, made it clear to Kiev that NATO membership remained a possibility.

The researcher then turned to the activities of American intelligence agencies in Ukraine.

He cited a 2024 investigation by The New York Times examining cooperation between the CIA and Ukrainian intelligence services.

According to Tögel, the partnership provided US intelligence agencies with access to information about Russia that would otherwise have been difficult to obtain.

Ukrainian intelligence personnel, meanwhile, received training and acquired additional operational capabilities through their cooperation with American counterparts.

Tögel claimed that this training extended beyond intelligence gathering to methods of conducting operations that he characterized as terrorist activities, despite the cooperation being officially presented as defensive.

In his assessment, CIA-backed intelligence and guerrilla activities targeting Russia had already been organized near its borders in 2008.

The German researcher presented these activities as part of the broader Western strategy of putting pressure on Moscow that he attributed to Blair’s earlier discussions with McCain.