DISINFO: US and EU conspired to overthrow Viktor Yanukovych
SUMMARY
In 2014, [...] the United States and the European Union conspired to overthrow the legitimately elected President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, and replace him with a team of Ukrainian nationalists.
RESPONSE
Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the role of the US and the EU in 2014 Euromaidan in Ukraine.
In 2014, there was no coup, nor a western orchestrated protest 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 the former President Yanukovych. 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 due to Russian pressure.
The protesters' demands included constitutional reform, a stronger role for parliament, the formation of a government of national unity, an end to corruption, early presidential elections and an end to violence.
Ukraine's government changed its relations toward Russia after the latter illegally annexed Crimea, which is part of Ukraine.
The EU is among the strongest advocates of Ukraine's sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity. The EU and the US work closely with Ukraine and support the democratic development of Ukraine in accordance with the UN Charter’s principles of non-interference into internal affairs and respect towards territorial integrity and political independence.
See similar disinformation cases claiming that Euromaidan protests were organised by foreign governments: Gauleiter Biden and the US were behind the Orange revolution 2004 and the coup of 2014; Obama staged a coup in Ukraine, allowing Nazis to assume power; the US organised a coup in 2014 in Kyiv and now wants Ukraine to start a war against Russia.