DISINFO: Russo-Georgian war and Euromaidan protests were Western-backed Russophobic provocations
SUMMARY
The events in Georgia (2008) and Ukraine (2014) were anti-Russian provocations fully backed by the West. The anti-Russian course which these countries assumed is part of the West’s Russophobic geopolitical strategy in place since 1991.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin narrative claiming that the 2008 Russo-Georgian War and the 2013-14 Euromaidan protests in Kyiv were backed and/or carried out by the West, and primarily designed to provoke/weaken/destabilise Russia. The five-day Russo-Georgian conflict resulted in the Russian military presence in both Abkhazia and South Ossetia that is in violation of Georgian and international law. The claim that the conflict was a Western-backed provocation is unsupported by evidence. In recent weeks, a disinformation campaign has been attempting to discredit the EU Monitoring mission in Georgia, see statement here. See here also for an EEAS statement on recent developments related to South Ossetia, Georgia and calling on all relevant actors to show maximum restraint and refrain from any steps or statement that could escalate the situation. As for Ukraine, the spontaneous onset of the Euromaidan protests was an organic reaction by numerous parts of the Ukrainian population to former President Yanukovych’s sudden departure from the promised Association Agreement with the European Union in November 2013. See the full debunk of this disinformation claim here. See this debunk for more examples of disinformation aboout anti-Russian provocations.