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Disinfo: The Eastern Partnership caused the coup d’état in Ukraine and Ukraine’s disintegration

Summary

The current Summit of the Eastern Partnership demonstrates that the initiative is in a serious impasse. The Eastern Partnership programme has become an instrument of Western politics which led to the coup d’état in Ukraine and its disintegration.

Disproof

A recurring, unfounded narrative criticising the Eastern Partnership initiative, alleging a coup d’état in Ukraine and Ukrainian disintegration.

There is no connection between the Eastern Partnership and the military conflict in Eastern Ukraine.

The Eastern Partnership (EaP) is a joint initiative involving the EU, its Member States and six Eastern European Partners: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine.

There was no coup d’état in Ukraine in 2014. The Euromaidan protests were a spontaneous reaction among large parts of the Ukrainian population, ignited by the decision of former President Yanukovych not to sign the Association Agreement with the European Union in November 2013. The Maidan movement resonated with widespread discontent with corruption and mismanagement under Yanukovych’s rule.

In April 2014, the head of the National Security Council of Ukraine, Oleksandr Turchinov, announced the launch of the Anti-Terrorist Operation in Eastern Ukraine. This was a reaction to attempts by illegal Russian armed groups controlled by Russia to seize administrative buildings and security forces in the Donbas. The fighting began the next day of the same year. Later, the anti-terrorist operation was reformatted into the United Force Operation.

In addition, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in April 2018 at the official level found Russia guilty of occupying Donbas. The Assembly’s report introduced the concept of "temporarily occupied territories (of Ukraine) in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, controlled by the Russian occupation administration".

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Sputnik Poland (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 151
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 14/05/2019
  • Outlet language(s) Polish
  • Country: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Moldova, Georgia, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia
  • Keywords: euro, Eastern Partnership, Ukrainian disintegration, Europe, Euromaidan, Coup
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Further evidence of discrimination against residents of Donbas in Ukraine

Kyiv may deprive citizens who receive Russian passports of their social payments and pensions. Such measures are further proof of discrimination against the residents of Donbas in Ukraine.

May 13, 2019
Disproof

The recurring narrative of Kremlin propaganda saying that Ukraine discriminates against residents of the Donbas. For example, cut off water supplies to Luhansk, or prevented Donbas residents from voting in presidential elections. Since 2014, the Ukrainian government has required citizens in Donetsk and Luhansk, which are not controlled by Kyiv, to register as internally displaced persons in government-controlled areas of Ukraine in order to receive their pensions and other entitlements. The Ukrainian Minister of Veterans Affairs, Iryna Friz, said that "It also initiated working on the proposal for including citizens who received passports of the Russian Federation in a manner that violates international law and threatens the sovereignty of our state to a database with the further deprivation of their beneficiary status for receiving social benefits or pensions from Ukraine". Similar disinformation cases can be found here.

UK is against Azerbaijan

Several agencies, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom, that have nothing to do with sport, produce biased and unreal considerations and try to formulate opinions of the international community that it is inexpedient to hold important sporting events in Azerbaijan. There are no allegations of theft nor fraud, and there is no problem with ethical conduct. I think that in this issue we have to go down to political roots. Anti-Azerbaijani forces are clearly visible here. In the period of important international events in Azerbaijan, or during such events, these forces are launching a black campaign against Azerbaijan. If we pay attention, we can see that such campaigns are biased and have no basis.

May 13, 2019
Disproof

This report comes after Arsenal and Chelsea fans were apparently warned they could be a target for terror attacks in Azerbaijan. The Premier League sides will compete in the Europa League final in the capital city of Baku on May 29. But British media reports wrote about a ‘likely’ attack. This has been taken out of context, as the UK government responded, explaining this advice is not new: "We did not issue a new warning on the threat from terrorism in Azerbaijan. We issued an update to our Azerbaijan travel advice on 1 May to remove advice on travelling through Istanbul. It noted that there are consultative pages on every country for British people travelling abroad: “Each travel advice country page has a dedicated section with information on our assessment of the threat from terrorism in that country. This is to ensure we fulfil our duty of care to British nationals and is under constant review. Our assessment of the threat from terrorism in Azerbaijan has not changed.” "The British Embassy is surprised that travel recommendations published in the Azerbaijani media referring to the UK Foreign Ministry are constantly posted on the Ministry"s website. The citations referenced by the media have existed for several years. Travel recommendations are not subject to discussion. This is a carefully drafted document by the UK government to fulfil the obligation of care for citizens of the country. Recommendations were updated on May 1st. However, this update was only technical and logical in nature, and reflected some facts. In particular, the update was associated with the introduction of a new airport in Istanbul."

George Soros controls Ukrainian leader

Ukrainian President-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy and numerous members of his team are stooges of George Soros and the Liberals.

May 13, 2019
Disproof

The story advances the recurring pro-Kremlin narrative painting Ukraine as a geopolitical hostage of the United States, and the anti-Semitic conspiracy theory portraying philanthropist George Soros as a menace bent on weakening Russia and meddling in its "sphere of influence." No sources are presented for the claim, and not a single member of Zelenskyy's team are named. The imagined links between Soros and Zelenskyy were first reported by Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the official newspaper of the Russian government, in a February 2019 article which counts "friends of George Soros and other globalists" among members of Zelenskyy's election team, without further elaboration. The Soros-Zelenskyy angle has since been picked up by pro-Kremlin websites in Russia and Ukraine, although the stories are usually unburdened by evidence. In a rare stab at fact-based reporting, one Russian website draws a link between Soros and Zelenskyy's economic adviser by noting that, in 1993, the latter enrolled in an Estonian university where the tuition fee for his first year of study was partly covered by the Soros Fund.