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Disinfo: Extreme nationalists staged coup and brought Poroshenko to power in Ukraine

Summary

Extreme nationalists were the driving force in the 2014 coup that brought Poroshenko to power in Ukraine.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin narrative painting the 2013-14 Euromaidan protests as a far-right uprising which culminated in a coup against the democratically elected President Yanukovych. It fits the wider portrayal of Ukrainian politics as dominated by "fascists."

Radical nationalists played a very limited role throughout the Euromaidan, had not initiated the protests in the first place, and did not install the Poroshenko to power.  Petro Poroshenko won the presidency in a competitive and transparent election, as reported by the OSCE. The two most popular nationalist candidates won a combined 1.84% of the national vote, and their respective political parties failed to achieve the minimum electoral threshold in the October 2014 parliamentary race.

 

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publication/media

RT English (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 140
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 09/03/2019
  • Language/target audience: English
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Keywords: Coup, Euromaidan, Petro Poroshenko, Nazi/Fascist

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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Crimea has been always Russian

Crimea has always belonged to Russia, Krushchev gave it to Ukraine on a whim.

March 11, 2019
Disproof

Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative on Crimea being a part of Russia.

According to the international law Crimea is a part of Ukraine. Russia violated the international law as well as key principles of the European security framework by illegally annexing the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol. The European Union does not recognise and continues to strongly condemn this violation of international law, which remains a challenge to the international security order. This position is based on the UN Charter, which clearly states that the territory of a State cannot be acquired by another State resulting from the threat or use of force, as well as on the Helsinki Final Act in which the signatories declared their intention to respect the inviolability of frontiers and territorial integrity.

The US is deliberately destabilising Venezuela and planning a military intervention to gain control over the country’s oil resources

After its failure to overthrow Assad in Syria, the US has shifted its focus toward Venezuela, a country that Washington is now trying to destabilise under the pretext of “restoring democracy”. In reality, the US, which is an “agent of the New World Order”, is seeking to gain control over Venezuela’s oil resources by creating a crisis in the country followed by US military intervention.

The US destabilisation of Venezuela and its efforts to topple Maduro follow a familiar pattern of US interventions in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Ukraine, also justified as necessary for “promoting democracy”.

March 11, 2019
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin narrative that the US is destabilising Venezuela and is planning an imminent coup-d’état and/or military intervention. See previous cases here.

See background information on other Venezuela-related conspiracies

The “Salisbury incident” was provoked by the UK government to divert attention from Brexit-associated problems and to demonise Russia

The poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, known as the “Salisbury incident”, was provoked by the UK government as part of  a “dead cat strategy” aimed at diverting public attention from its Brexit-associated problems and at demonising Russia.

The UK government has never provided any credible and verifiable proof of Russia’s involvement in the Skripals’ poisoning. All accusations against Russia turned out to be groundless.

The government of Theresa May has always ignored the repeated proposals by the Russian side for constructive cooperation in the investigation of this case.

 

March 11, 2019
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative that Russia has nothing to do with the poisoning of former Russian GRU officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, marking now its one year anniversary.

The UK government has provided hard evidence for Russia's involvement in the poisoning. British police and intelligence investigations have produced hard evidence which was sufficient to charge two Russian nationals – identified as officers of the Russian Military Intelligence, GRU – for the attack on the Skripals. More UK public documents/statements on the case here and here. The EU Member States support the UK findings, and decided unanimously to introduce sanctions against the GRU officers responsible and their commanding officers.