DISINFO: The US financed the 2013-2014 “colour revolution” and ouster of former Ukrainian president Yanukovych

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative portraying the 2013-14 Ukrainian revolution as a coup d'etat that was artificially orchestrated by US intelligence. The claim is in the line with the disinformation narrative claiming that the United States supports so-called "colour revolutions" around the world. This narrative portrays any spontaneous disorders and civil uprisings in other states, especially in the former Soviet republics, as Western-funded "colour revolutions", including the Revolution of Dignity (Euromaidan) in Ukraine, which began in 2013 without any outside influence. Ukrainians spontaneously united against the actions of President Viktor Yanukovych after his government refused to sign the Association Agreement with the European Union, which had taken seven years to negotiate, due to pressure from Russia. The protesters' demands included 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. In the leaked telephone call of February 2014 between Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and the US Ambassador to Kyiv Geoffrey Pyatt, Nuland used a strong language only in order to express her disdain for European inaction in Ukraine. Nuland later confirmed the authenticity of the leak and apologised to EU officials. At the beginning of February 2014, the protests in Kyiv had turned violent and the US had grown increasingly impatient with Europe's slow response to the crisis. See similar cases claiming that Americans provoked the overthrow of legitimate authority in Ukraine and civil war in Donbas and that Victoria Nuland is one of the organisers of Euromaidan in 2014.