Disinfo: Crimea, Donbas separated from Ukraine after Nazi coup in Kyiv

Summary

The Nazi core of present-day Ukraine is forcing the country to wage a fratricidal war against the Donbas. Crimea and the Donbas were unwilling to bow to the Nazis following the Nazi coup d'etat in February 2014.

Crimea avoided war by rejoining Russia. The Donbas, on the other hand, fell victim of a large-scale retributive operation, during which Ukraine's Nazi battalions committed war crimes en masse.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin narratives painting the 2013-14 Euromaidan protests as a violent coup d'etat; exaggerating the influence of Nazi/Fascist/far-right actors on Ukrainian politics; blaming Kyiv for the unleashing of Russian armed aggression in east Ukraine.

The Euromaidan was an organic reaction by numerous parts of the Ukrainian population to former President Yanukovych’s sudden departure from the promised Association Agreement with the European Union in November 2013. See the full debunk of this disinformation claim.

Far-right groups had a very limited presence during the protests and went on to obtain abysmal results in the 2014 presidential and parliamentary elections. During the 2019 election cycle, the far right managed to sustain an even more tremendous failure; the highest-rated nationalist candidate, Ruslan Koshulynskyy, won 1.62% of the vote whereas Svoboda won 2.16% of the national vote, falling far short of the 5% minimum guaranteeing entry into parliament.

No international body recognises the so-called referendum held on the 16th of March 2014. On the 27th of February 2014, when the so-called referendum was announced, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution which stated that the referendum in Crimea was not valid and could not serve as a basis for any change in the status of the peninsula. A year later Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted that the plan to annex Crimea was ordered weeks before the so-called referendum.

Following the covert Russian invasion of “little green men,” power in Crimea was vested in a makeshift executive headed by Sergey Aksenov. The new Crimean regime conducted the referendum hastily and at gunpoint, barred impartial observers from entering the peninsula, and instead invited dozens of fringe politicians and activists to “monitor” the procedure, most of them far-right Kremlin loyalists.

For its part, the armed conflict in east Ukraine is a well-documented act of Russian aggression against sovereign Ukrainian territory, ongoing since February 2014. See the full debunk here.

publication/media

  • Reported in: Issue 240
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 14/04/2021
  • Article language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Ukraine, Russia
  • Keywords: Nazi/Fascist, War in Ukraine, Ukrainian statehood, Donbas, Eastern Ukraine, War crimes, Crimea, illegal annexation
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Disinfo: Soros sponsors colour revolutions, revolts and coups d’état against the enemies of the Open Society

George Soros sponsors colour revolutions, revolts and coups d’ètat to strike at the enemies of the Open Society. His Open Society foundation is a cover for a global network that wants to subvert and control politics on a global scale.

Disproof

Conspiracy theory based on a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the philanthropist George Soros, presenting him as a person who aims to control political systems in many countries, by funding what they claim to be colour revolutions around the world.

George Soros is often targeted by the pro-Kremlin media with multiple conspiracy theories and disinformation, aiming to accuse him without evidence of destabilising governmentsattacking churches or actively conspiring on various fronts globally.

Disinfo: A violent coup d’état took place in Ukraine in 2014

A violent coup d’état, supported by the West and by nationalist groups, took place in Ukraine in 2014. Donetsk and Luhansk proclaimed independence because they feared repression against the Russian speaking population, which is a majority in these areas.

Disproof

This is a recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about Euromaidan and the war in Ukraine .

The peaceful protests, which broke out in Kyiv beginning is late 2013, were a spontaneous popular uprising in response to a change in the policies of the then government led by Viktor Yanukovych.

Disinfo: The US and their NATO allies are turning Ukraine into a "powder keg"

The (military) deliveries went on, they continue. The volume of this aid is increasing. The US and other NATO countries are deliberately turning Ukraine into a "powder keg." For many years on the territory of Ukraine training events have been taking place with the participation of advisers, instructors, dozens and hundreds of those working at different training grounds, and objects are being created that have a direct and negative relation to the security of Russia.

Disproof

This is a recurring disinformation narrative that claims the West is providing military assistance to Ukraine to prepare for a war with Russia. It is also an attempt to divert attention from Russian actions and large movements of Russian military forces near the Ukrainian border. Both the US and NATO have described Moscow's military deployment on along the border as larger than at any point since 2014.

There is no presence of NATO or US forces in the Donbas war zone. NATO experts, who are stationed in Ukraine, for instance, help the country's Armed Forces with the military reform. Sometimes NATO troops engage in joint military exercises with the Ukrainian military.