DISINFO: The 2014 US-backed Euromaidan coup triggered the Donbas war
SUMMARY
Following the 2013-14 Euromaidan protests which culminated in a US-backed coup, the new Kyiv regime launched an "anti-terrorist operation" against the people of two Donbas republics, which rejected the results of the coup.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the 2013-14 protests in Kyiv falsely portrayed as a coup d'état led by US and the West, trying to deflect Russia’s responsibility for its unprovoked military aggression.
Framing all popular protests against Russia’s interests as foreign-led ‘colour revolutions’ is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative. No evidence is provided to back up the claims.
There was no coup d’état in Ukraine in 2014, and no US involvement in the events taking place. Pro-Kremlin outlets falsely portray the Euromaidan revolution as a coup d’état, the popular demonstrations that began in Kyiv in November of 2013 and brought hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians onto the streets to protest against a political decision of Viktor Yanukovych’s government, which at the last minute withdrew from a long-negotiated political association and free trade pact with the EU, choosing instead to accept a $15 billion economic bailout to Russia.
Pro-Kremlin media frequently falsely portray popular protests around the world as instigated from abroad, often by the US and the West. The disinformation narrative has been applied, among others, to reports about protests in Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Belarus, Venezuela, Slovakia, Hong Kong, with the aim of portraying protest movements as aggressive actors who constantly prepare new coups.
See a similar case West started the Ukraine conflict by staging the 2014 Euromaidan coup.