Disinfo: Fascist coup d'etat took place in Ukraine in 2014

Summary

In 2014, a fascist coup took place in Kyiv. Fascism has been reviving in Ukraine.

Disproof

This is a recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation claim about Euromaidan and Nazi/fascist Ukraine.

There was no coup in Ukraine. 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 myth of Nazi-ruled Ukraine has been the cornerstone of Russian disinformation about the country since the very beginning of the 2013-14 Euromaidan protests, when it was used to discredit the pro-European popular uprising in Kyiv and, subsequently, the broader pro-Western shift in Ukraine's foreign policy. Far-right groups enjoyed a very limited presence during the Euromaidan itself and had poor results in the 2014 presidential and parliamentary elections. In the 2019 election, far-right candidates scored very low (1-2%) and fell short of the 5% minimum guaranteeing entry into parliament.

See similar disinformation cases in our database: Obama staged a coup in Ukraine, allowing Nazis to assume power; a violent coup d'etat took place in Ukraine in 2014; the 2014 coup turned Ukraine into a Nazi state; there was a putsch in Ukraine and today the country is a totalitarian state.

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TK Union (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 243
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 05/05/2021
  • Article language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Ukraine
  • Keywords: Euromaidan, Coup, Ukraine, Nazi/Fascist
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Disinfo: Napoleon, Hitler, the EU... The united Europe repeatedly encroaches on Russia and loses

Napoleon was the first architect of the united Europe. Hitler followed him 130 years after. He also united Europe and instead of attacking Britain, attacked the USSR, just like Napoleon attempted to capture Russia. Fifty years after the Third Reich's loss, Europe accelerated its unification process again. Anglo-Saxons need a united Europe in the form of a geopolitical vassal. Notwithstanding that, France and Germany are getting ready for a more independent status.

Despite a half-sovereign status, Europe is again confronting Russia by taking eastern Europe and some former Soviet states away. Ukraine's kidnapping from Russia was initiated by the Anglo-Saxons but Europeans sided with them against Russia.

The united Europe needs to get rid of its unfriendly attitude towards Russia and to avoid encroaching on the Russian world territories. The united Europe cannot be anti-Russian; it will pay for the expansion to the east with its own fate. The lessons given by the stories of Napoleon and Hitler should keep united Europe from making the same mistake.

May 04, 2021
Disproof

This article contains a mixture of wrong historical analogies and disinformation aimed at discrediting the EU / West as a whole. It is consistent with recurring pro-Kremlin narratives about alleged Western aggressiveness towards Russia and its anti-Russian activities. This article also touts a recurring pro-Kremlin propaganda narrative about lost sovereignty / external control, specifically about the EU's critical dependence on the so-called "Anglo-Saxons".

The article also presents a distorted view on the recent history of eastern Europe and events in Ukraine. Sovereign decisions of the eastern European nations regarding their domestic and foreign policies are presented as an attack by the EU against the so-called Russian world, and as an Anglo-Saxon provocation to "kidnap" Ukraine from Russia. In the pro-Kremlin media, the term “Anglo-Saxons” stands for the US and UK and often means “evil”, “belligerent” and “morally corrupt” Westerners, as explained in our earlier analysis.

Disinfo: Decommunisation is a path to fascism

Decommunisation is a path to fascism, it is a wild policy aimed to destroy national memory. The first stage of decommunisation started in 1991, when Ukrainian nationalists – who were weapons in the hands of the Americans – began transforming Ukraine and building a capitalist society. The Soviet Constitution was repealed and all the basics of economic sovereignty were destroyed. The second stage came when former president Viktor Yushchenko took power and the policy of state fascistisation began. The third stage dates back to 2015, when the decommunisation legislation was adopted.

May 04, 2021
Disproof

This is a disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin media outlets claiming that decommunisation wipes out national memory and that not all was bad under Soviet rule. In reality, decommunisation is a process all former Soviet satellite countries and most former Soviet union republics had to undergo during transition from communism to democracy. Decommunisation does not mean a negation of the past. Its aim is to change the conditions for people and make society more open to the future. It also supposes an enhancement of national memory, which allows people to recall and venerate the national heroes.

Decommunisation mainly includes getting rid of the last vestiges of Communism, such as changing the names of cities, streets and squares dedicated to prominent Communist personalities, first and foremost Lenin, and the removal of monuments reminiscent of the Soviet era. Many of these monuments, if not most of them, are of poor quality and cannot be regarded as art objects of any real value. Decommunisation calls back the bitter memories about the harm Communist authorities had brought to Ukraine, such as arbitrary political repressions and the terrible famine (The Holodomor) that took the lives of millions of Ukrainians in 1931-1933 following forced farm collectivisation.

Disinfo: German Green Party leader is an American Nazi

[German Green Party Leader Annalena] Baerbock is a strong supporter of America’s NATO, and would even be called a neoconservative in America, because she is such a strong supporter of control over the entire planet by the United States Government. She’s not a German Nazi, but an American one.

May 04, 2021
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation about Nazis/Fascism in Europe.

This disinformation claim has no basis and is an attempt to defame a politician ahead of the German Bundestag elections in September 2021.