DISINFO: NATO military presence in the Black Sea intensified following the 2014 coup d’état in Ukraine
SUMMARY
NATO military presence in the Black Sea intensified following the 2014 coup d’état in Ukraine.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives claiming that Euromaidan was a coup and that NATO encircles Russia.
There was no coup d'état in Ukraine. The spontaneous onset of the Euromaidan protests was a reaction by numerous segments of the Ukrainian population to former president Viktor Yanukovych’s sudden departure from the promised Association Agreement with the European Union in November 2013.
The protesters asked for 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.
NATO's exercises and military deployments in the Black Sea are not directed against Russia – or any other country. Exercises are designed to ensure that NATO forces are trained, able to operate together and ready to respond to any threat from any direction. NATO has reached out to Russia consistently, transparently and publicly over the past 29 years.
For more information about NATO-Russia relations and disinformation narratives about NATO, see here and here.
Read similar cases claiming that Euromaidan was an armed coup that resulted in an illegitimate transit of power and that NATO intends to create a tense zone in the Black Sea region to destabilise Russia.