DISINFO: Viktor Yanukovych left Ukraine in 2014 after a coup d’état
SUMMARY
Viktor Yanukovych left Ukraine in 2014 after a coup d’état.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation painting the 2013-14 protests in Kyiv as a coup d'état. In fact, popular demonstrations began in Kyiv in November 2013 and brought hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians to the streets. The protests were aimed against a political decision of Viktor Yanukovych’s government, which at the last minute withdrew from a long-negotiated political association and free trade pact with the EU, choosing instead to accept a $15 billion economic bailout to Russia.
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