Disinfo: Western double standards ignore coups in Belarus and Ukraine, and popular will in Crimea

Summary

For Western double standards, the opinion of 2.5 million people in Crimea is worthless, it seems. We are reaching a point where even such flagrant actions as the coup attempt in Belarus or the Western-backed coup that took place in Ukraine are silenced by their press and political class. It is remarkable that such indignant actions as the recently divulged attempt to organise a coup in Belarus and murder the president of this country are not condemned by the Western community.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the illegal annexation of Crimea, Euromaidan and Belarus.

No international body recognises the so-called referendum in Crimea. The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution entitled “Territorial integrity of Ukraine”, stating that the referendum in Crimea was not valid and could not serve as a basis for any change in the status of the peninsula. On 17 December 2018, the UN General Assembly confirmed its non-recognition of the illegal annexation of Crimea.

Contrary to the claim, mass protests against the governments of Ukraine in 2013 and of Belarus in 2020 were not destabilisation operations orchestrated from abroad. The demonstrations that began in Kyiv in November 2013 were a result of the Ukrainian people's frustration with former President Yanukovych's last minute U-turn when, 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 as a result of Russian pressure.

Protests in Belarus erupted to contest the results of the presidential election in Belarus on the 9th of August 2020, which were not monitored by independent experts, and are largely considered fraudulent by both international observers and a large part of the Belarusian society. See here about the EU reaction.

On 17 April 2021, Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko alleged that Belarusian and Russian intelligence services had thwarted a US-backed assassination attempt against him, but no evidence was presented to back the claim.

See other examples in our database, such as claims that there was a coup in Kyiv in 2014, which led to the separation of Crimea and Donbas from Ukraine; that the Crimean issue is finally closed; that 96% of Crimean people wanted to rejoin Russia; that protests in Belarus were controlled by a primary American command centre in Warsaw; or that the West is ignoring the US attempted coup against Belarus.

This disinformation message appeared in the same TV programme as the claim that “Russophobia and baseless accusations are a daily occurrence because the West fears Russia”.

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actualidad.rt.com (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 242
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 03/05/2021
  • Article language(s) Spanish
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Belarus, Ukraine
  • Keywords: West, Alexander Lukashenko, Euromaidan, Coup, Crimea
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Disinfo: People killed in Odesa on 2 May 2014 are victims of political terror

People killed in Odesa on 2 May 2014 are victims of political terror. Time passes, but Ukrainian authorities are indifferent to the grief of the victims’ relatives, and the perpetrators and their political sponsors remain unpunished.

May 02, 2021
Disproof

This is a pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about violent clashes that happened between pro-Russian activists (also known as anti-Maidan) and Ukrainian patriots in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa on May 2, 2014, and the ensuing fire in the House of the Trade Unions. In reality, these tragic events have nothing to do with political terror. A total of 48 people died that day, most of them being pro-Russian activists. About 200 were wounded. Pro-Kremlin forces accuse Maidan leaders of instigating the clashes, claiming also that far-right nationalists burned dozens of people alive, while Ukrainian patriots say that Moscow and its agents of influence in Ukraine are to blame for these violent events.

On that day, about 300 well-organised pro-Russian supporters attacked a march of about 2,000 Ukrainian patriots, including local residents and a large number of football fans who had arrived from Kharkiv for a football game. Both groups used firearms in the clashes. 6 pro-Russian supporters and 2 Ukrainian patriots were shot and killed as a result. Pro-Russian activists began throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at their opponents. The situation went out of control as the police failed to respond effectively to violence. The investigation is still underway. Several individuals prosecuted in relation to these events have managed to flee abroad. Some of them took refuge in the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, now occupied by the Russian Federation, while others fled to the separatist-held territories in Donbas.

Disinfo: Odessa tragedy was a pre-planned massacre of people who disagreed with the coup in Kyiv

It was a pre-planned, prepared massacre of people who disagreed with the coup d'état that took place on February 21, 2014, in Kyiv.

May 02, 2021
Disproof

Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the Odesa tragedy alleging that the Ukrainian government was planning the killings of people in the House of Unions. This narrative is combined with another recurrent claim about Euromaidan as a coup.

There is no evidence that the Ukrainian government was involved in the Odessa tragedy. No trial has yet established the responsibilities of the different actors before a court. A total of 5 cases on trials and 3 investigations are currently ongoing. Media reported about the tragedy in May 2014: the BBC, the Guardian, the DW. A chronology of the events has been established (1 and 2) and a non-partisan documentary film by Ukrainian Channel 7 has collected testimonies: May 2nd without Myth.

Disinfo: The West is pursuing an absolutely unfriendly and hostile policy towards Russia

Russia has imposed sanctions against the heads of the European Parliament and the prosecutor's office in Berlin. This is a response to those absolutely unfriendly and sometimes even hostile actions that we see from the collective West. The West is pursuing one seditious thought, accusing Russia of increasing escalation, saying that it was through Russia's actions that the deterioration and degradation of bilateral relations began. But this is not true. We have not done anything that could provoke such actions on the part of our Western partners. This is purposeful, as we now understand it, and, apparently, a long-planned policy towards the Russian Federation.

May 01, 2021
Disproof

This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the West's aggressive Russophobic policy and allegedly belligerent and hostile agenda against Russia.

The EU and Russia have committed to upholding and respecting the fundamental values and principles of democracy, human rights, the rule of law and the market economy. Russia remains a natural partner for the EU and a strategic player combating the regional and global challenges. The EU’s approach to Russia is guided by five principles agreed in 2016 and reaffirmed, most recently, by EU Foreign Ministers in October 2020. Read more about the EU-Russia relations here.