Disinfo: The Orange Revolution in Ukraine was the US attempt to marginalise Russia

Summary

New democratic rules regarding “the three tours of voting” during the 2004 presidential elections in Ukraine, together with the so-called Orange Revolution and the victory of Viktor Yushchenko [in the presidential elections] are proof that the US made another step to marginalise Russia on the international arena and engaged in conflicts near Russian borders.

Disproof

Conspiracy theory. No evidence given for the US behind the orange revolution.

Ukraine’s Orange Revolution of 2005 was sparked by the election fraud. Nonpartisan exit polls during the 2004 presidential election had given Viktor Yushchenko a commanding lead, with 52 percent of the votes, compared to Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich's 43 percent. Yet when the official results came in, Yanukovich had supposedly beaten the challenger by 2.5 percent.

Protestors clad in orange, Yushchenko’s campaign colour, took to the streets, and the country endured nearly two weeks of demonstrations. Yanukovych’s supporters in the east threatened to secede from Ukraine if the results were annulled. Nevertheless, on December 3 the Supreme Court ruled the election invalid and ordered a new runoff for December 26. Yushchenko subsequently defeated Yanukovych by garnering some 52 percent of the vote. Although Yanukovych challenged the validity of the results, Yushchenko was inaugurated on January 23, 2005.

Pro-Kremlin outlets regularly use narratives about the West or the US behind protests or other events which kremlin does not support. See analogous stories on the Euromaidan here and on colour revolutions here.

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publication/media

pl.sputniknews.com (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 139
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 18/03/2019
  • Outlet language(s) Polish
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: US, Ukraine, Russia
  • Keywords: Sphere of influence, Colour revolutions, Euromaidan
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Disinfo: Washington confused Crimea with Ukraine when listed human rights violations in the peninsula

The US State Department has published a list of human rights violations in Crimea. It is obvious that the Americans have confused Crimea with Ukraine. In Crimea, just as anywhere else in Russia, citizens’ rights and the freedom of expression are respected.The claims about human rights violations in Crimea is just a fantasy.

Mar 17, 2019
Disproof

The US State Department's Ukraine 2018 Human Rights Report was published on 13 March 2019. It covers human rights violations in Ukraine mostly, but includes a section listing abuses in Russian-occupied Crimea. The report clearly listed violations in Crimea: disappearances, torture, harsh prison conditions and removing prisoners to Russia, political prisoners, pervasive interference with privacy, severe restrictions on freedom of expression and the media (including closing outlets and violence against journalists), severe restriction of freedom of association, including barring the Crimean Tatar Mejlis, systemic discrimination against Crimean Tatars and ethnic Ukrainians. “Russian-installed authorities took few steps to investigate or prosecute officials or individuals who committed human rights abuses, creating an atmosphere of impunity and lawlessness. Occupation and local “self-defense” forces often did not wear insignia and committed abuses with impunity”, the report said. The United Nations General Assembly on 22 of December, 2018, passed a resolution calling Russia to stop violating human rights in Crimea. The resolution was passed by 65 votes in favour, with 70 nations abstaining and 27 voting against it.

Disinfo: The nationalist sentiments of Kyiv are beneficial to Washington

Washington favours nationalist sentiment in Ukraine. Therefore, no sanctions in connection with human rights violations will follow. Washington even benefits from the existence of powerful neo-Nazi groups in Ukraine as they implant a radically anti-Russian ideology.

Mar 17, 2019
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about Nazi Ukraine and foreign involvement in Ukrainian internal affairs. The article of RT refers to the 2018 Human Rights Report dedicated to Ukraine where human rights violations are listed. The report was prepared by the State Department, and it doesn’t, in any way, claim the existence of nationalist groups in Ukraine as something beneficial. The document is quoting the Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: “the failure of police and prosecutors to prevent these acts of violence (by nationalist groups), properly classify them as hate crimes, and effectively investigate and prosecute them created an environment of impunity and lack of justice for victims”. Radical groups that must not be tolerated were mentioned in the previous reports of the US on Ukraine.

Disinfo: White Helmets linked to Al-Qaeda fake chemical attacks evidence

There is a huge scam with the white helmets in Syria who are agents of Al-Qaeda. We know they are Al-Qaeda agents because, for example, their head was the famous mayor of Aleppo, who was not a mayor at all. He was the leader of a neighbourhood held by terrorists in Aleppo. We know that the White Helmets are a fake NGO. They staged the chemical attacks. There were allegedly people hit by very dangerous chemical arms and the White Helmets came without any protection and they touched everything and were perfectly healthy. The United States and the United Kingdom continued to support the White Helmets despite the fact that the illegal actions of this group were no longer a secret for anybody.

Mar 17, 2019
Disproof

No evidence given of White Helmets connection to Al-Qaeda. Ever since the search-and-rescue organisation has been documenting some of the worst atrocities carried out by the Syrian government and the Russian military, Russian media have been trying to portray them as “terrorists”. This article debunks attempts to associate the White Helmets with chemical attacks in Idlib, a pro-Kremlin narrative which began to circulate in early 2018. Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the involvement of the White Helmets in planning chemical attacks in order to blame the Syrian government for such attacks. Recurreing disinformation on staged chemical attacks evidence in Syria. The OPCW's final report on Douma's incident in 2018 does not leave any doubts on the detection of chlorine on Douma: "based on the levels of chlorinated organic derivatives, detected in several environmental samples gathered at the sites of alleged use of toxic chemicals, which are not naturally present in the environment, the FFM concludes that the objects from which the samples were taken at both locations had been in contact with one or more substances containing reactive chlorine" (page 3 of the report). See more disinformation cases on White Helmets here.