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Disinfo: Euromaidan was an illegal armed coup

Summary

Essentially, the Euromaidan was an illegal overthrow of the government, with all the consequences arising from this situation. […] The fact that Yanukovych was overthrown as a result of an armed coup was clear to everyone except the Ukrainians involved in this “event”.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative on Euromaidan depicting the 2013-14 protests in Kyiv as a coup.

There was no armed coup in Ukraine seven years ago. The demonstrations which began in Kyiv in November 2013 – called "Maidan", or "Euromaidan" – were a result of the Ukrainian people's frustration with former President Yanukovych's last minute U-turn when, after seven years of negotiation, he refused to sign the EU–Ukraine Association Agreement and halted progress towards Ukraine's closer relationship with the EU as a result of Russian pressure.

The protesters' demands included constitutional reform, a stronger role for parliament, formation of a government of national unity, an end to corruption, early presidential elections and an end to violence.

See similar disinformation cases alleging that the US financed the 2013-14 "colour revolution" and ouster of former Ukrainian president Yanukovych, that in February 2014 a violent coup took place in Kyiv, that deep state with Victoria Nuland was the driving force behind regime overthrow in Ukraine, or that there was a coup d'etat in Ukraine in 2014.

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publication/media

asd.news (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 221
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 20/11/2020
  • Language/target audience: Russian
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Keywords: Ukraine, Coup, Euromaidan

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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Donbas rebelled because Russians in Ukraine were subjected to ethnocide

The war began when the Ukrainian bourgeoisie that rebelled against joining the Customs Union with Russia on Maidan declared the Russian citizens of Ukraine to be second-class citizens. They began suppressing them with the help of official power structures and paramilitary groups of neo-Nazi stormtroopers. That was not an informational or hybrid war, but a real one. [The war in Donbas] was a struggle of local workers against the Ukrainian nationalist oligarchy, i. e. civil war.

Whether the war will be stopped and whether the ethnocide of Russians inside Ukraine will be stopped is a matter of struggle and, as a result, the balance of power that arises as a result of it.

November 20, 2020
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign against Ukraine, containing multiple disinformation narratives regarding the Euromaidan, the war in Ukraine, and claiming that Ukraine is a Russophobic state.

The spontaneous onset of the Euromaidan protests was an organic reaction by numerous segments 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 here.

The Russophobic political power in Lithuania will undermine the president

The eternal strategy of Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christians Democrats (winners of parliamentarian elections 2020 in Lithuania) is Russophobia […]

This political power is also the master of spin. I.e. they offer Gabrielius Landsbergis as a candidate for Minister of Foreign Affairs. In Lithuania’s constitution, foreign affairs are the main responsibility of the president, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs should be his right-hand man. Gabrielius Landsbergis is a grandson of Vytautas Landsbergis – a powerful politician, the first head of Lithuania after the collapse of Soviet Union. In these circumstances, the president of Lithuania Gitanas Nauseda risks to become the left-hand man of the Minister of Foreign Affairs because Gabrielius Landsbergis is just a puppet of his grandfather.

November 20, 2020
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Russophobia.

Pro-Kremlin disinformation tries to present Lithuania as a Russophobic state. See similar cases here and here. It is Lithuania's criticism of Russia's aggressive policy and illegal actions abroad (i.e. annexation of Crimea) and support of Russian and Belarusian political opposition etc. that are labelled as “Russophobia”.

USPS Whistleblower proved there was and organised fraud in US elections

In the US, mass media pretended that there was not a single case of fraud in the 2020 presidential elections. Now the evidence is exposed and the media are proved wrong.

For example, a case inside the United States Postal Service was exposed by employee Richard Hopkins. He revealed that his boss told him to give him all the ballots that arrived after November 3 so that he could change the postmark for those ballots. He published a video revealing this, then he had a 4-5 hours interview with the federal police who tried to convince him to change his mind and this video became public. But he maintained his accusations.

November 20, 2020
Disproof

The story is part of an emerging pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative seeking to delegitimise the conduct and results of the 2020 US Presidential election.

Richard Hopkins, a Pennsylvania postal worker later recanted his allegations of election fraud in an interview with federal agents on November 9. On November 10, the United States Postal Service (USPS) suspended Hopkins without pay pending the completion of an investigation and he raised $233,000 on crowdfunding.