I'm not taking Russia's side here; I'm simply making observations. Unfortunately, because the American government has routinely lied to the American people in the run-up to entering hostilities (see: our foreign policy for the last thirty years), it has demonstrated that it is no longer entitled to our unquestioning fealty.
Disregarding, for a moment, the side-splitting spectacle of the United States government lecturing one country on the moral crime of invading another, we are still left to try to reconcile two competing explanations of Russia's invasion of Ukraine; that I'm supposed to reflexively believe my own government's version of events is no longer a viable option.
So the entire World is lying.
U.K.
U.S.
Ukraine.
France.
Poland.
Finland.
All Baltic States.
Slovakia.
Czech Republic.
Israel.
Spain.
Hungary.
Everyone is lying except for…….wait for it……..Russia and China!!! Yippee!
The drive in the mind of a Conspiracy Theorist to keep the Conspiracy alive must be very powerful.