DISINFO: Ukraine itself is to blame for the Russian invasion of Ukraine
SUMMARY
"Denazification" is a term used by the Russian government to describe one of its stated goals. President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly pointed to the heinous legacy of Stepan Bandera, the notorious mass murderer and collaborator with Nazi Germany, who is hailed by contemporary Ukrainian nationalists as a hero and founding father of their nation.
It was the Banderists, with their longstanding relationship with the CIA and other anti-Moscow foreign intelligence agencies, who violently ousted former Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014. From the act of illegal and politicised violence emerged the popularisation of those forces of ethnic and cultural genocide that manifest themselves in the form of today's Banderists, who initiated acts of violence and oppression in eastern Ukraine. This, in turn, sparked the Russian response in Crimea and resistance from Donbas residents, who organized to confront the Bandera-affiliated Ukrainian nationalists' rampage. The Minsk Accords followed, and the subsequent betrayal by Kyiv and its Western partners of this potential path to peace that the Accords offered.
RESPONSE
These are multiple a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets claiming that Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine is justified.
Russia's aggression against Ukraine was unprovoked and unjustified. Contrary to Russian claims, Ukraine had not planned to attack Russia, and did not commit genocide in the non-government-controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. Ukraine was striving to implement the Minsk Agreements, but the Moscow-backed military formations there were constantly disrupting their implementation.
The Russian invasion is aimed at destroying Ukraine as a state and annihilating the Ukrainians as a nation. These plans were openly laid out in an article titled “What Russia should do with Ukraine” in April 2022. Along with calls to de-Nazify and demilitarise Ukraine, the article advocates its de-Ukrainisation, meaning the eradication of Ukrainian culture and everything related to it, plans to divide Ukraine into several entities subordinate to Russia, but without the word “Ukraine” in their names. Thus, Russia is not protecting itself, or anyone else, in its war. Instead, some Russian politicians and experts are threatening to attack Western nations after Ukraine.
In addition, in 2014, there was no coup, nor a western orchestrated protest in Ukraine. The demonstrations which began in Kyiv in November 2013 – called "Maidan", or "Euromaidan" – were a result of the Ukrainian people's frustration with the former President Yanukovych. 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 due to Russian pressure. The protesters' demands included constitutional reform, a stronger role for parliament, the formation of a government of national unity, an end to corruption, early presidential elections and an end to violence.
The myth of Nazi-ruled Ukraine has been the cornerstone of Russian disinformation about the country since the very beginning of the 2013-14 Euromaidan protests, when it was used to discredit the pro-European popular uprising in Kyiv and, subsequently, the broader pro-Western shift in Ukraine's foreign policy. Far-right groups enjoyed a very limited presence during the Euromaidan itself and had poor results in the 2019 election cycle, falling short of the 5% minimum required to enter into parliament.
See the EU's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine here along with EU vs Disinfo's Guide to Deciphering Pro-Kremlin disinformation around Putin's War.