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Disinfo: The coup in 2013-2014 is the root cause of the war and other problems in Ukraine

Summary

Ukrainian politicians still do not want to admit that the unconstitutional seizure of power in Kyiv was the root cause of the upheavals in the country.

Instead, the so-called “Maidan victors” decided to use force to suppress the dissenters in various regions of Ukraine. They imposed an almost complete ban on the Russian language, initiated lustration, the liquidation of parties and NGOs, the closure of oppositional media, and the lifting of restrictions on the propaganda of neo-Nazi ideology. And the Western mediators – France, Germany, and Poland, who acted as guarantors of the agreement of February 21, 2014 – in fact, withdrew from fulfilling the promises.

Almost seven years later, Kyiv is still afraid to face the truth and admit guilt for the tragic consequences of the bloody coup. They prefer to hide their fear behind anti-Russian and Russophobic rhetoric.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign against Ukraine, containing multiple disinformation narratives regarding the Euromaidan, the war in Ukraine and Ukrainian statehood.

There was no 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.

The Ukrainian government, which came into power after the Euromaidan, did not use force to suppress the dissenters. The war in eastern Ukraine, which is often regarded as an outcome of this, is actually a well-documented case of Russian armed aggression.

Ukraine did not ban the Russian language, closed parties, NGOs, or oppositional media. The Russian language remains one of the minority languages in Ukraine; it can be used in private communication and religious ceremonies, in book publishing and the press, including radio and television, in education, the service sector, the healthcare system, and in law enforcement. New parties with oppositional ideology as well as new media came into existence after 2014.

Ukraine did not propagate the neo-Nazi ideology. The Nazi and Communist ideologies were banned by a Ukrainian law in 2015.

See similar disinformation cases alleging that Euromaidan and pro-European politics led to the collapse of Ukraine, that the USA destroys Ukrainian identity, or that Ukraine finally becomes "anti-Russia".

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publication/media

antimaydan.info (Archived)
RIAFAN - Russian (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 216
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 16/10/2020
  • Language/target audience: Russian
  • Country: Russia, Ukraine, Germany, Poland, France
  • Keywords: Russian language, Puppets, War in Ukraine, Coup, Euromaidan, The West, Ukrainian statehood, 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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Turkey considers Crimea to be Turkish

For Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Crimea is neither Ukrainian nor Russian. For Erdogan, Crimea is Turkish.

October 16, 2020
Disproof

Pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Crimea.

Turkey has repeatedly stated that it does not support the Russian annexation of Crimea and supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine. Turkey has no claims to the Ukrainian peninsula, however, the Turkish leadership has repeatedly helped the Crimean Tatars, whose rights Russia is massively violating in the temporarily occupied Crimea. 

Kazakhstan is a testing ground for production of dangerous diseases

Kazakhstan is a testing ground for the production of especially dangerous diseases that will be used for military purposes. In fact, biological weapons are being modernised using the strains that were collected by Soviet scientists.

Both the CRL and five biological objects (including the so-called research institutes, which are assigned to the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Education and the health system) are in fact not subordinate to either the president or the government. They are actually funded by the US. And they are under the full control and management of the Pentagon and the US Embassy.

The curators of all these projects sit in the offices of the embassy, ​​under diplomatic cover. They keep their finger on the pulse, control the work of the employees of the research institutes, who clearly carry out the joint programs set by the Pentagon. Plus – the work of Western biologists, undercover specialists.

October 16, 2020
Disproof

This is a recurring conspiracy theory alleging that the United States develops biological weapons and has secret biological laboratories around the world. Consistent with the Pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign against biological laboratories in Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine and other countries. The conspiracy about US biolabs in countries bordering Russia aiming to encircle Moscow and spread infectious diseases is a part of a years-long disinformation campaign led by the Kremlin.

In fact, biological laboratories are involved in preventing the risks of complex diseases and, together with other similar projects, counteracting bioterrorism.

Poles were the first to sign a pact with Hitler in 1934

Poles were the first to sign a pact with Hitler in 1934, hoping to participate in the “onslaught to the east.” Five years later, in September 1939, Poland paid the price for its treachery and remained on the world map only thanks to the courage of the Red Army.

October 16, 2020
Disproof

This message is part of the Kremlin’s policy of historical revisionism and an attempt to erode the disastrous historical role of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact by stating that other European countries signed various international agreements with Germany throughout the 1930s. The same article contains another disinformation message about Poland planning to partition the USSR.

It is impossible to compare the German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact of 1934 with the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact as the former was a standard international agreement aimed at the mutual recognition of borders and a declaration that existing political contradictions would be solved through diplomatic tools. There is no evidence that this pact contained any secret protocols, which assumed common aggressive actions of Germany and Poland against the USSR or other countries. Moreover, the pact did not include any agreements on advanced political, economic and military relations between Poland and Germany.