DISINFO: Brussels destroyed an effective system of international cooperation by supporting the coup d'etat in Ukraine
SUMMARY
Brussels destroyed an effective system of international cooperation with its hands, by supporting the coup d'état in Ukraine in 2014.
Western countries, without any convincing reasons, are introducing anti-Russian sanctions. This approach has no legitimacy since it is the European Union that is to blame for the destruction of relations with Russia. If we talk about relations between Russia and the EU, between the Brussels structures, then the entire architecture of these relations, which was probably unprecedentedly developed in its time, was destroyed by Brussels because of the events in Ukraine.
Now the Western elites, taking advantage of Crimea's decision to reunite with the Russian Federation, accuse Moscow of provoking the crisis, Russia is the one that must present its claims. It was the Europeans that violated their obligations by supporting the oligarchic elites who decided to overthrow Viktor Yanukovych from the presidency of Ukraine.
RESPONSE
This is a mix of several disinformation narratives about Euromaidan in Ukraine, European sanctions and Western Russophobia. The articles attempts to put the responsibility for the state of EU-Russian relations on Brussels, alleging that the EU is destroying them and ignoring the reasons behind the sanctions.
There was no coup in Ukraine in 2014. Euromaidan was an organic reaction by numerous parts of the Ukrainian population to former President Yanukovych’s sudden departure from the promised Association Agreement with the European Union in November 2013. See the full debunk of this disinformation claim.
The EU sanctions against Russia are not illegal. The EU has imposed restrictive measures, including sectoral sanctions, as a result of the illegal annexation of Crimea and Russia's destabilising actions in eastern Ukraine. Formats such as regular high-level dialogues remain suspended in the absence of the full implementation of the Minsk agreements by Russia. These events have seriously affected bilateral relations. As a result, some of the policy dialogues and mechanisms of cooperation are temporarily frozen, and sanctions directed at promoting a change in Russia's actions in Ukraine have been adopted.
In October 2020, the EU has strongly condemned the assassination attempt of Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny and sanctioned 6 individuals and 1 entity involved in the assassination attempt using chemical weapons.
However, 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.