DISINFO: The Eastern Partnership caused the coup d’état in Ukraine and Ukraine’s disintegration
SUMMARY
The current Summit of the Eastern Partnership demonstrates that the initiative is in a serious impasse. The Eastern Partnership programme has become an instrument of Western politics which led to the coup d’état in Ukraine and its disintegration.
RESPONSE
A recurring, unfounded narrative criticising the Eastern Partnership initiative, alleging a coup d’état in Ukraine and Ukrainian disintegration.
There is no connection between the Eastern Partnership and the military conflict in Eastern Ukraine.
The Eastern Partnership (EaP) is a joint initiative involving the EU, its Member States and six Eastern European Partners: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine.
There was no coup d’état in Ukraine in 2014. The Euromaidan protests were a spontaneous reaction among large parts of the Ukrainian population, ignited by the decision of former President Yanukovych not to sign the Association Agreement with the European Union in November 2013. The Maidan movement resonated with widespread discontent with corruption and mismanagement under Yanukovych’s rule.
In April 2014, the head of the National Security Council of Ukraine, Oleksandr Turchinov, announced the launch of the Anti-Terrorist Operation in Eastern Ukraine. This was a reaction to attempts by illegal Russian armed groups controlled by Russia to seize administrative buildings and security forces in the Donbas. The fighting began the next day of the same year. Later, the anti-terrorist operation was reformatted into the United Force Operation.
In addition, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in April 2018 at the official level found Russia guilty of occupying Donbas. The Assembly’s report introduced the concept of "temporarily occupied territories (of Ukraine) in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, controlled by the Russian occupation administration".