DISINFO: The current government in Kyiv is responsible for war
SUMMARY
The current regime in Kyiv has brought conflict to Ukraine: war, the loss of Crimea, shootings at Maidan, economic collapse, impoverishment of the people, and much more. The basis of the conflict is a coup d’état. If there hadn’t been a coup d’etat, early elections would have taken place, and Crimea and Donbas would have remained in Ukraine.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Euromaidan and events in Ukraine. The Euromaidan demonstrations were a spontaneous civic reaction by the Ukrainian people to former President Yanukovych’s unexpected rejection of the highly-anticipated EU Association Agreement in November 2013. The war in Eastern Ukraine was provoked by Russia. The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has stated that “[t]he information available suggests that the situation within the territory of Crimea and Sevastopol amounts to an international armed conflict between Ukraine and the Russian Federation. This international armed conflict began at the latest on 26 February when the Russian Federation deployed members of its armed forces to gain control over parts of the Ukrainian territory without the consent of the Ukrainian Government.” The European Union stated in July 2014 that "arms and fighters continue flowing into Ukraine from the Russian Federation". At the NATO Summit in Wales in September 2014, NATO leaders condemned in the strongest terms Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine and demanded that Russia stop its aggression and withdraw its forces from Ukraine and away from the country’s border. According to the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Russian special forces and troops operated to mobilize, lead, equip, and support separatist militias in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine from spring 2014, although their presence was denied by Moscow. In 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin finally admitted Russia's military presence in Ukraine and Russian involvement in the occupation of Crimea. The so-called referendum was organised in a matter of weeks by self-proclaimed Crimean leadership lacking democratic legitimacy and installed by Russian military personnel following the seizure of public buildings. The EU does not recognise the referendum as legitimate. The United Nations General Assembly Resolution No. 68/262, adopted on March 27th 2014 and supported by 100 states, asserts that Russia's actions in Crimea, as well as the referendum itself, violate international law. In March 2014, the European Council agreed the first diplomatic measures in response to Russian aggression in Ukraine. Following the Kremlin's continued destabilisation efforts in eastern Ukraine, the EU imposed economic sanctions in July 2014 and reinforced them in September 2014. In March 2015, the European Council linked the duration of those economic restrictions to the complete implementation of the Minsk agreements.