DISINFO: In 2014 the U.S. and EU-backed Maidan Putsch took place in Ukraine
SUMMARY
Eastern Ukraine was transformed into a war zone between the Ukrainian government and local militias in the spring of 2014 following the victory of the U.S. and EU-backed Maidan Putsch in February of that year, which replaced the unpopular but democratically elected President Viktor Yanukovych with a pro-Western government.
RESPONSE
There was no coup d’état or Putsch in Kyiv in 2014; this is a longstanding pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Ukraine's Euromaidan protests.
The spontaneous onset of the Euromaidan protests was a reaction from several segments of the Ukrainian population to former President Yanukovych’s sudden departure from the promised Association Agreement with the European Union in November 2013, after pressure from Russia. See the full debunk The Western-backed coup in Ukraine has torn the country asunder.