(Zero Hedge)—On Saturday afternoon, Reuters posted an anonymously-sourced story pushing the idea that Russia is bent on reconstituting the Soviet Union. Before the metaphorical ink had dried, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard pounced, condemning the story as “a lie and propaganda” on behalf of “warmongers” seeking to derail President Trump’s drive to end the long and bloody Ukraine war.
From selling the Iraq invasion to achieving a news and social media lockdown on Hunter Biden’s laptop, the Deep State has long used major media outlets like Reuters, the New York Times and Washington Post to inject their agenda-advancing narratives into America’s town square. Displaying the typical modus operandi with its Saturday night story, Reuters vaguely attributed the purported US intelligence conclusions about Russia to “six sources familiar with US intelligence.”
According to those sources, “US intelligence reports” are warning that, despite Putin’s outwardly earnest claims that he wants to end the Ukraine war — claims credited by Trump — Russia not only wants to conquer all of Ukraine but also other European territories that were part of the Soviet Union. “The reports present a starkly different picture from that painted by…Trump and his Ukraine peace negotiators,” wrote Reuters journalists Jonathan Landay, Erin Banco and John Irish. Shortly after Banco promoted the story on X, Gabbard lashed out:
“No, this is a lie and propaganda Reuters is willingly pushing on behalf of warmongers who want to undermine President Trump’s tireless efforts to end this bloody war that has resulted in more than a million casualties on both sides. Dangerously, you are promoting this false narrative to block President Trump’s peace effort, and fomenting hysteria and fear among the people to get them to support the escalation of war, which is what NATO and the EU really want in order to pull the United States military directly into war with Russia.
The truth is the US intelligence community has briefed policymakers, including the Democrat HPSCI member quoted by Reuters, that US Intelligence assesses that Russia seeks to avoid a larger war with NATO. It also assesses that, as the last few years have shown, Russia’s battlefield performance indicates it does not currently have the capability to conquer and occupy all of Ukraine, let alone Europe.”
The “Democratic HPSCI member” (House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence) is Illinois Rep. Mike Quigley, who told Reuters that intelligence has “always” said “Putin wants more…The Europeans are convinced of it. The Poles are absolutely convinced of it. The Baltics think they’re first.”
Gabbard also used her appearance at this weekend’s Turning Point USA national conference to decry the “weaponization” of intelligence to slow-walk the West into World War III:
The Reuters story is just the latest element of a broader campaign, on both sides of the Atlantic, to promote the implausible idea that Russia — which has taken nearly three years of grinding, yard-by-yard combat to control just 20% of Ukraine— has designs to plunge forward and conquer NATO countries next. In November, for example, Germany claimed Russia is positioning itself for war with NATO by 2029, or maybe in 2028. Reuters led that reporting too. On Wednesday, Putin delivered his own blistering condemnation of the hype, going so far as to call EU officials promoting that narrative “European swine,” adding:
“I have repeatedly stated: this is a lie, nonsense, pure nonsense about some imaginary Russian threat to European countries. But this is being done quite deliberately.”
The Gabbard-Reuters controversy comes just days after Trump told reporters that “we’re closer than we have been” to bringing peace to Ukraine. Observers voiced agreement with Gabbard that the timing of the Reuters story and similar claims from European officials is no coincidence:
“Notice the pattern Tulsi is calling out,” wrote the X geopolitical account The Islander. “Every time negotiations inch ahead, fear narratives suddenly flood the zone. That’s not coincidence, it’s escalation management. The question isn’t whether Russia wants war; it doesn’t, it’s who needs the public to believe it’s inevitable.”
Elon Musk, who has long tangled with Ukraine’s Zelensky government — from mocking Zelensky’s laughable claim that every dollar of US aid to his country is accounted for, to blasting Ukraine for suspending elections — also endorsed Gabbard’s rebuke of Reuters, joining others who lampooned the Deep State spectacle…
Director Gabbard is absolutely right
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 21, 2025
Reuters? pushing neocon propaganda? Say it ain’t so!
— The Redheaded libertarian (@TRHLofficial) December 20, 2025
The story the MSM will report: Tulsi Gabbard says pic.twitter.com/Mv6fAwwS5B
— Nuclear Herbs (@NuclearHerbs) December 21, 2025
The US “Intel”-media complex’s collusion with the warmongers to propagandize and push more forever wars on the American people is a disgrace to journalism & our intelligence. It’s also the primary threat to US national security & our freedoms. It must be brought to an end. https://t.co/Zr0GP1EF8P
— Arta Moeini (@ArtaMoeini) December 20, 2025
Does this surprise anyone? The Deep State cannot survive without war and conflict to exploit. To those who like war so much, put yourself on the front line first, see how much you really like it. A body bag awaits you.
Wait. I remember watching Putin say as much, restoring the greatness of Imperial and Soviet Russia. Wasn’t that what he said in the ‘lesson’ on Russian history that he gave to Tucker Carlson in 2024?
MS Now (More SNOW) lies lies lies. Everyday it spreads its propaganda b.s. to the dumb leftie Marxists who eat it up like pigs eating sh*t. We need to boycott ALL Fake News sources, with the goal of bankrupting them and their leftie sponsors completely out of business.