DISINFO: Fascist coup d'etat took place in Ukraine in 2014
SUMMARY
In 2014, a fascist coup took place in Kyiv. Fascism has been reviving in Ukraine.
RESPONSE
This is a recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation claim about Euromaidan and Nazi/fascist Ukraine.
There was no coup 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 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.
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 2014 presidential and parliamentary elections. In the 2019 election, far-right candidates scored very low (1-2%) and fell short of the 5% minimum guaranteeing entry into parliament.
See similar disinformation cases in our database: Obama staged a coup in Ukraine, allowing Nazis to assume power; a violent coup d'etat took place in Ukraine in 2014; the 2014 coup turned Ukraine into a Nazi state; there was a putsch in Ukraine and today the country is a totalitarian state.