DISINFO: The US has recognised Euromaidan as a coup controlled by US officials

DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS

  • Outlet: ntv.ru ( archive, original )
  • Date of publication: February 16, 2020
  • Countries / regions discussed: US, Ukraine

DISINFO: The US has recognised Euromaidan as a coup controlled by US officials

SUMMARY

In this film, for the first time, Americans themselves recognise Euromaidan as a coup d’etat under the external control of officials of the US presidential administration. The author of the investigation tells how the leaders of the Ukrainian revolution coordinated their actions at the US embassy in Kyiv, and then went out on the streets to protest. This investigation surprised few people in Nezalezhnaya [derogatory name for Ukraine]: the journalists from Israel and Italy already told about the Georgian snipers recruited through Saakashvili, but American viewers see for the first time how Ukraine has become a platform for fighting, war and making money.

RESPONSE

This is a recurring effort by pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets to represent grassroots protest movements in post-Soviet countries, including Russia itself, Ukraine, and others, as plotted by US to destabilise those countries and weaken Russia. Thus, the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine in 2014 are presented as a coup fomented alternatively by the West, Georges Soros, or Victoria Nuland from the US in person; it is also often portrayed as a "Nazi coup".

In fact, the demonstrations that began in Kyiv in November 2013, called "Maidan" or "Euromaidan", emerged organically as a result of the Ukrainian people's frustration with former President Yanukovych's last-minute U-turn on the highly anticipated EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, which had been under negotiation for seven years. For more cases about the Euromaidan protests, see here.

The conspiracy theory about Georgian snipers shooting at Maidan protesters on 20 February 2014 has been previously debunked and is not supported by evidence. Pro-Kremlin disinformation has spread different versions of the identity of the snipers. For further debunking about recurring disinformation on the Georgian snipers, see StopFake, Myth Detector, The Insider and Polygraph.

Finally, the movie "The Ukraine Hoax: Impeachment, Biden Cash, Mass Murder" is a documentary produced by Michael Caputo, a Republican strategist, and has not been endorsed by any US authorities. It therefore in no way entails that "the US recognise(s) Euromaidan as a coup for the first time". Read more about the film on StopFake.

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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