DISINFO: The US provoked a coup d'état in Ukraine
SUMMARY
In Ukraine, [the US] provoked a coup d'état, condoned the inculcation of neo-Nazi ideology, turned Ukraine into a testing ground for military-biological experiments, turned a blind eye to the killings of the civilian population of Donbas, and prepared for military action against our country. Under these conditions, Russia stood up to protect the population of Donbas and did not allow aggressive plans to be implemented. Representatives of NATO countries are already openly saying that Russia prevented them from approaching Russian borders, and Ukrainians are an instrument for the West to contain Russia.
RESPONSE
A mix of recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the 2013–14 protests in Kyiv portrayed as a coup d'état led by the US, the West, Ukrainian Nazis, conspiracy about the US biological experiments in Ukraine.
There was no coup d’état in Ukraine in 2014, and no US involvement in the events taking place. Pro-Kremlin outlets falsely portray as a coup d’état the Euromaidan revolution, the popular demonstrations that began in Kyiv in November of 2013 and brought hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians to 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 agreement with the EU, choosing instead to accept a $15 billion economic bailout to Russia.
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. It has been widely addressed here.
Ukraine has dozens of civilian public health laboratories that work to research and mitigate the threats of dangerous diseases, some of which receive support from the US, the EU and the World Health Organization (WHO). Pro-Kremlin disinformation has a long track record of portraying public health research facilities as having military objectives, deliberately manipulating and blurring the line between biological weapons and biological research.
Russia’s claims about US biological laboratories in Ukraine have been widely refuted including by the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu.
There is no evidence to confirm that Ukraine had plans to attack the non-government-controlled areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. Claiming that Ukraine was preparing an offensive in Donbas is one of the main recurring disinformation narratives used by Russia to justify its unprovoked aggression against this country.
Read other similar cases in our database: Russia presented evidence of US biolabs in Ukraine at the convention on biological weapons; New evidence of US military-biological activity emerged in Ukraine; Bio-experiments in US labs turned Ukrainian soldiers into ‘most cruel monsters’; Russia’s military operation against neo-Nazis in Ukraine was unavoidable; the West is lying when it claims that Russia “invaded” and “attacked” Ukraine; Russia’s special operation prevented Ukraine’s attack.