Russia's narrative win on war in Ukraine - outside the West

Russia's narrative win on war in Ukraine - outside the West | GZERO World

As tensions between Russia and NATO continue to escalate, Ian Bremmer and former US Ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder discuss on GZERO World the perspective of non-Western countries, who are walking a complicated geopolitical tightrope between the two sides.

Nations like India, Brazil and South Africa have a strong diplomatic and economic ties to both Russia and the West. They're being put in a difficult position of condemning the war in Ukraine without supporting Western-led sanctions, which are creating high fuel prices and rising inflation for their own citizens.

The West needs to make clear that the negative effects of the war are a consequence of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, not of the sanctions themselves, Daalder argues. Changing the narrative to emphasize Russia's responsibility for the conflict is crucial if the West wants to maintain support for the long haul, which Daalder says could continue for decades.

Watch the GZERO World episode: Russia vs. NATO: Heightened risk of war

More from GZERO Media

RPG-7 training of Ukrainian soldiers. November 17, 2024.
  • Adrien Vautier via Reuters Connect

People from different cultures often approach the same problem in different ways. We wondered — would an AI trained and tuned in China approach a complex geopolitical challenge differently than a model created and trained in Europe, or in the United States?

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks to the members of the media, after arriving by plane to attend the Gaza Peace Summit, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, October 13, 2025.
Yoan Valat/Pool via REUTERS

2: French President Emmanuel Macron rejected calls to resign as his fragile government faces two no-confidence votes this week.

Palestinian children look at rubble following Israeli forces' withdrawal from the area, after Israel and Hamas agreed on the Gaza ceasefire, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, October 10, 2025.
REUTERS/Ramadan Abed

Israel approved the Gaza ceasefire deal on Friday morning, bringing the ceasefire officially into effect. The Israeli military must withdraw its forces to an agreed perimeter inside Gaza within 24 hours, and Hamas has 72 hours to return the hostages.