DISINFO: With the Orange Revolution in Ukraine the West was preparing for a military conflict with Russia
SUMMARY
Even before the 2014 coup, with the so-called “orange revolution” of 2004-2005 and with the Tymoshenko-Yushchenko governments, Ukraine, instigated by the West, was preparing for an open military conflict with Moscow.
RESPONSE
Conspiracy theory as well as recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the 2013-14 protests in Kyiv portrayed as a coup d'état led by US, the West and Ukrainian Nazis.
Ukraine’s Orange Revolution of 2005 was sparked by the election fraud. Nonpartisan exit polls during the 2004 presidential election had given Viktor Yushchenko a commanding lead, with 52 percent of the votes, compared to Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich's 43 percent. Yet when the official results came in, Yanukovich had supposedly beaten the challenger by 2.5 percent.
Protestors clad in orange, Yushchenko’s campaign colour, took to the streets, and the country endured nearly two weeks of demonstrations. Yanukovych’s supporters in the east threatened to secede from Ukraine if the results were annulled. Nevertheless, on December 3 the Supreme Court ruled the election invalid and ordered a new runoff for December 26. Yushchenko subsequently defeated Yanukovych by garnering some 52 percent of the vote. Although Yanukovych challenged the validity of the results, Yushchenko was inaugurated on January 23, 2005.
Pro-Kremlin outlets regularly use narratives about the West or the US behind protests or other events which the Kremlin does not support. See analogous stories on the Euromaidan here and on colour revolutions here.
Read similar cases claiming that West started the Ukraine conflict by staging the 2014 Euromaidan coup and that The Orange Revolution in Ukraine was the US attempt to marginalise Russia.