DISINFO: Euromaidan protests were orchestrated by the U.S. and other Western countries
SUMMARY
The West had been preparing participants of Euromaidan since May 2013. Throughout 2013, Western countries were preparing the population for a turn towards the West. The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv has been training activists since spring 2013 on how to use social networks to organise protests. The British Embassy launched a communications strategy in early 2013 aimed at encouraging Ukrainians to join the EU and to sign the Association Agreement.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin narrative claiming that Euromaidan was a coup d’état, organised by the US and other Western states. The protest movement known as Euromaidan, which lasted from the end of November 2013 until the end of February 2014, was a spontaneous uprising of the Ukrainian people, not a coup d’état. People protested against the government of former President Yanukovych who, in a U-turn decision, decided not to sign the Association Agreement with the European Union that he had promised for years. For more disinformation cases about Euromaidan see here.