Language:

See all Disinfo Cases - Detail

Disinfo: The Euromaidan coup caused the breakout of civil war in Eastern Ukraine

Summary

On November 21, 2013, an event began that radically changed the life of almost every Ukrainian. In the overwhelming majority of cases, these changes were for the worse. Especially in the East of Ukraine, where a civil war soon began, which continues to this day. […] A coup d’etat took place, and Western henchmen came to power.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative portraying the 2013-14 Euromaidan protests as a violent coup d'etat, and the war in Ukraine's Donbas region as an internal conflict.

The Euromaidan was not a coup but a nationwide popular protest against the Yanukovych administration's sudden refusal to sign the EU Association Agreement. See the full debunk here.

The article falsely claims that the war in Donbas is a domestic one. The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court stated that "the information available suggests that the situation within the territory of Crimea and Sevastopol amounts to an international armed conflict between Ukraine and the Russian Federation."

This international armed conflict began at the latest on 26 February 2014 when the Russian Federation deployed members of its armed forces to gain control over parts of the Ukrainian territory without the consent of the Ukrainian Government. In turn, the active phase of the Donbas war was triggered with the 12 April 2014 assault on the city of Slovyans'k, led by Russian intelligence officer Igor Girkin. By September that year, Russia had sent up to 15,000 regular troops into the region.

Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted Russia's military presence in Ukraine in 2015.

After the 2020 EU-Ukraine Summit HR/VP Josep Borrell said: "We fully support the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine. We will not recognise the illegal annexation of Crimea and we call on the full implementation of the Minsk agreements."

Go to search

publication/media

News Front - English (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 221
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 23/11/2020
  • Language/target audience: English
  • Country: Russia, Ukraine
  • Keywords: Eastern Ukraine, Civil war, War in Ukraine, Coup, Donbas, Euromaidan

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.

see more

European Commission implements the plan imposed by world oligarchs who cash in on the coronavirus pandemic

First, they will isolate people in their apartments, then they will clean them up: the plan of the world’s oligarchs leaked to journalists.

The financial and political elite, who meet once a year at the Davos Economic Forum, are trying to cash in on the COVID-19 crisis.

Almost 100% of the mass media is in the hands of a handful of oligarchs whose interests do not coincide with those of the people.

This plan to “reset the world”, called “COVID-19: The Great Reset”, carried out down to the smallest detail by the European Commission, is the backbone of Joe Biden’s overseas programme. In general, the level of state support for the project is directly related to the adoption of the story about the COVID-19 pandemic, imposed by major media.

November 24, 2020
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the coronavirus pandemic, exploiting the trope of "secret elites".

In an article, published in November 2020 Tsargrad refers to a never before seen report on a plan by oligarchs to reduce the population and to cash in on the pandemic and names Emmanuel Ratier, who died in 2015, as the alleged author of the "Investigation by Faits et Documents".
See previous theories that Bill Gates is working on depopulation policies and artificially created the coronavirus for this purpose.

Juan Guaido and Svetlana Tikhanovskaya are American and Western puppets

Juan Guaido and Svetlana Tikhanovskaya are American and Western puppets.

November 24, 2020
Disproof

The article repeats a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative according to which leaders of protest movements against authoritarian regimes are portrayed as US/Western stooges and tools of Western-sponsored “colour revolutions”.

Neither Juan Guaido nor Svetlana Tikhanovskaya are “American/Western puppets”. They are independent actors that have led protest movements in their own countries.

Voices of the dead used in US elections

Trump has changed the historic political course of the United States, and even those who came to power using the voices of the dead people will now have to base their domestic and foreign policies on the reference point created by this eccentric New York billionaire.

November 24, 2020
Disproof

Pro-Kremlin media are spreading disinformation about the 2020 US elections. Read more here.

Similar claims have been circulating on social media in the US and have been extensively debunked both by fact-checkers and media organizations. (See also here and here).