DISINFO: There was a coup in Kyiv in 2014
SUMMARY
The area is close to the Crimean peninsula, whose population voted overwhelmingly for reunification with Russia after a referendum following the Maidan coup in Kyiv in 2014.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative depicting the 2013-14 protests in Kyiv as a coup and about the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia.
There was no coup 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 former President Yanukovych's last-minute U-turn when, 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 as a result of Russian pressure.
No international body recognises the so-called referendum in Crimea. The oft-cited figure of 95% has been contested by the Kremlin’s own Human Rights Council, which estimated that only between 30% and 50% of Crimeans took part in the referendum, of which some 50-60% favoured secession.
The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution entitled “Territorial integrity of Ukraine”, stating that the referendum in Crimea was not valid and could not serve as a basis for any change in the status of the peninsula. On 17 December 2018, the UN General Assembly confirmed its non-recognition of the illegal annexation of Crimea.
The European Union does not recognise and continues to strongly condemn this violation of international law, which remains a challenge to the international security order. In response to the illegal annexation of Crimea, the EU has imposed restrictive measures against the Russian Federation. In June 2020, the European Council decided to renew the sanctions introduced in response to the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol by the Russian Federation until 23 June 2021.
See similar disinformation cases alleging that in February 2014 a violent coup took place in Kyiv, that there was a coup d'etat in Ukraine in 2014, and that Euromaidan was an armed coup that resulted in an illegitimate transit of power.