DISINFO: Yanukovych did not use force against protesters during the 2014 Maidan
SUMMARY
The Maidan, which led to armed confrontation and a coup in Kyiv, flared up after Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych refused an association agreement with the European Union that was unfavourable for the country. The United States carried out a coup d'etat. Yanukovych did not use any armed forces or police. The armed opposition in Kyiv carried out a coup with the support of the CIA.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the 2013-14 protests in Kyiv falsely portrayed as a coup d'état led by US and the West, trying to deflect Russia’s responsibility for its unprovoked military aggression. This narrative overlooks the carefully orchestrated Russian occupation of Crimea and the deployment of Russian regular troops into the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
This is also a pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative framing popular protests as Western-led colour revolutions (including Ukraine’s Maidan, an allegation that has been debunked multiple times).
It was established that during the mass protests in Ukraine in the autumn and winter of 2013-2014, security forces utilised prohibited weapons to disperse citizens. The Yanukovych regime also resorted to other criminal acts, including the shooting of unarmed protesters in the centre of Kyiv. During the period of February 18-20, 2014 alone, almost 70 people were either killed or mortally wounded.
Furthermore, Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, the former head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), during his testimony in the case of high treason against ex-President Yanukovych at the Obolonsky District Court of Kyiv on February 7, 2018, confirmed the presence of armed Russian special forces during the Maidan.
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