DISINFO: Western countries declared war on Russia back in 2014, after the coup d'état in Ukraine
SUMMARY
Western countries declared war on Russia back in 2014.
The collective West, led by the United States, is now fighting against Russia.
This war was declared to us quite a long time ago - after the coup d'état in Ukraine, orchestrated by the United States and, in fact, supported by the European Union, and after the Minsk agreements, as it now finally turns out, no one was going to implement.
RESPONSE
Multiple disinformation narratives from pro-Kremlin outlets accusing the West of war in Ukraine, of anti-Russian policies, aggressive Russophobia, and allegedly belligerent and hostile agenda to destroy Russia, aiming to portray Russia as a victim and deflect any responsibility for Moscow’s illicit actions. Recurring disinformation narratives about the Minsk agreements and attempt to present the 2013-14 protests in Kyiv as a coup d'état.
War on Russia: The West did not declare war on Russia and is not at war with Russia or the Russians. Since Russia launched its full-scale unjustified aggression against Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the West has been calling for Russian withdrawal from Ukraine and a peaceful settlement. The West does not want or seek a war at the heart of Europe.
US support: There are no US or NATO forces on the frontline. Some NATO member states provide Ukraine with military assistance to repel the unprovoked Russian aggression, but they are not involved in direct fighting. Ukraine receives weapons with the sole aim of restoring its territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders. Western instructors train Ukrainian soldiers how to use modern weaponry and NATO officials have frequent political contacts with Ukrainian counterparts, but there are no NATO troops fighting on the front.
Euromaidan: There was no coup d’état in Kyiv in 2014; this is a longstanding pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Ukraine's Euromaidan. The spontaneous onset of the Euromaidan protests was a reaction by numerous segments of the Ukrainian population to former president Viktor Yanukovych’s sudden departure from the promised Association Agreement with the EU in November 2013. Yanukovych stole as much state property and valuables as possible and fled to Russia.
Russian annexations: Since 2014, it was Russia that has waged large-scale armed aggression against Ukraine and Russia is also responsible for the outbreak of the conflict in 2014, after having illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula and engineered the creation of rebel militias in Donetsk, Luhansk, and other places, with its army, actively participating in military clashes. The war was an act of aggression by Russian armed forces, ongoing since February 2014.
Minsk agreements: Before the invasion, Russia was a party to the Minsk agreements, and these are the most recent formal documents in which Russia has affirmed Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Russia has however not delivered on its side of the implementation of the Minsk agreements. The Russian side and its proxies have failed to implement a ceasefire, withdraw all heavy weapons, implement all-for-all prisoner exchange, or ensure delivery of humanitarian assistance based on an international mechanism. On the contrary, Russia has been strengthening the illegal armed formations in eastern Ukraine. Russia also did not allow for unfettered access to the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission monitors, including to the Ukraine-Russia border, where the (very limited) monitoring mission was discontinued due to a Russian veto in summer 2021.
Without the full implementation of the ceasefire, the withdrawal of heavy weapons as well as permission for the full access to all territories for the OSCE monitoring mission, it is difficult to discuss the implementation of the political parts of Minsk II. Nevertheless, Ukraine implemented as much of the Minsk agreements as can reasonably be done while not having control over the territory and addressed every point. It has passed – and extended with renewals – legislation on special status and amnesty (2014), and prepared draft legislation on local elections (2014). Ukraine passed constitutional amendments to provide more autonomy to the territories currently outside its control (2015).
Read similar cases claiming that A violent coup d’état took place in Ukraine in 2014, that The US supported the 2014 coup d’état in Ukraine or that The EU supported an unconstitutional coup d'état in Ukraine led by the US, that Minsk agreements were an attempt to gain time, that Russia fights the collective West, not just Ukraine.