DISINFO: The West staged a coup in Ukraine in 2014
SUMMARY
In 2014, the West staged a coup in Ukraine and the rise of radical nationalists to power. The United States and Europe watched indifferently from the side-lines as neo-Nazis burned people in Odessa, and began armed aggression against their own Russian-speaking civilian population in Donbas.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the 2013-14 protests in Kyiv portrayed as a coup d'état led by the West/US, about the Odessa tragedy and about Nazi Ukraine.
In 2014, there was neither a coup nor a protest orchestrated by Western countries 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 the former President Yanukovych. 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 due to Russian pressure. The protesters' demands included constitutional reform, a stronger role for parliament, the formation of a government of national unity, an end to corruption, early presidential elections and an end to violence.
Regarding the Odessa tragedy, no trial has yet established the responsibilities of the different actors before a court. A total of 5 cases on trial and 3 investigations are currently ongoing.
Media reported about the tragedy in May 2014: the BBC, the Guardian, the DW. A chronology of events has been established (1 and 2) and a non-partisan documentary film by Ukrainian Channel 7 has collected testimonies: May 2nd without Myth.
Regarding the investigation, the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine noted in its report in 2019: "Five years on, there has still not been any accountability for the killings of six and violent deaths of 42 individuals. Some of the criminal proceedings launched after the tragic events have stalled at the pre-trial investigation stage, while others did at the trial stage. This suggests a lack of genuine interest from the authorities to ensure justice for victims and accountability for perpetrators."
The myth of Nazi-ruled Ukraine has long been a cornerstone of pro-Kremlin disinformation efforts. This has already been widely debunked and addressed on EUvsDisinfo. See also myth thirteen in myths about Russia’s war against Ukraine exposed.
Russian propaganda has made a tremendous effort to deceive the whole world by disguising its military aggression in eastern Ukraine. One of the borderline cynical and most frequently used myths is portraying Russia’s invasion, occupation and war crimes as a civil war in Ukraine.
The conflict in Donbas is not a civil war but an act of Russian aggression.
Read similar disinformation cases claiming that Euromaidan was an armed coup that The 2014 Ukrainian coup was supported by US, NATO, and EU, that on May 2, 2014, Ukrainian fascists executed 48 residents of Odessa, that death squads used by Ukraine to burn protesters in Odesa on May 2, 2014 and that Kyiv persecuted those who did not recognise the Euromaidan coup.