The Maidan in 2014 is a coup d’etat: a review of Italian and German pro-Russian media

After the use of force by the authorities, the protests escalated into open confrontation, followed by the Revolution of Dignity. The result was early presidential and parliamentary elections and the launch of reforms in line with the new European course. Russia considers the described events to be a coup d’etat and justifies its further invasion of Donetsk and Luhansk regions and the occupation of Crimea.

Fake: The Maidan in 2014 is a coup d’etat

Since 2014, the German publication RT.DE has mentioned Maidan in numerous publications as a place where a coup d’etat took place in Ukraine. A number of Italian media outlets, including Viva.it and Glindifferenti, share this view.

• In Ukraine we offer assistance to a real state of affairs. – Viva.it. _

What is the truth?

Allegations of an alleged coup d’etat in the downtown of Kyiv are typical rhetoric of the Kremlin, which thus justifies its own aggression. Putin himself mentions it again and again: at the Russian Security Council in January 2021, which preceded the recognition of the LPR and the DPR and the beginning of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and at a “meeting” with Aeroflot workers in the spring of 2022, when the Russian military have already carried out active military actions in our territory. We have already refuted this and his other statements in the materials “The Crooked Mirror of Russian Propaganda. Factcheck of Putin’s New Speech ” , ” The World’s Chief Liar ” and ” Putin’s Lie Council “. Analysis of the meeting of the Security Council of the Russian Federation ” .

The Revolution of dignity has absolutely no signs of a coup d’etat .

The main goal of the coup d’etat is to seize power by conspirators in conformity with their own interests. The Revolution of Dignity began with actions in support of the signing of the Association Agreement with the EU – Euromaidan – and later evolved into mass protests aimed at protecting human and civil rights and freedoms, democratic values. Power and profit have never been its goal. The result of the revolution was the ratification of the Agreement with the EU and the holding of fair presidential and parliamentary elections.

The conspiracy presupposes the presence of a small group of people and is in no way a mass phenomenon.

According to a sociological  poll conducted in October 2014 by the Ilko Kucheriv Foundation for Democratic Initiatives, about 20% of Ukraine’s population, more than 8.5 million people, took part in peaceful rallies. The poll showed that most citizens perceived participating in the protests as a conscious struggle for their rights.

Other signs of a coup d’etat are unconstitutionality and violence, when weapons are the main tool to achieve the goal. All the events of the Revolution of Dignity took place in a constitutional manner, and the protesters began to use self-defense only after the escalation of violence by the authorities, which involved armed security forces to disperse unarmed protesters.

Fake: The Nazis are responsible for the coup d’etat in Ukraine

RT.DE has repeatedly reported that in 2014 a coup d’etat in Ukraine was carried out by supporters of Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera and overthrew democratically elected pro-Russian leader Viktor Yanukovych.

• The coup in Kyiv converted Ukraine into a disorganized country, suffering from the the right-wing ideology. – RT.DE. _
• The support of the nationalist Putsches in Ukraine and of the various confrontational political measures against Russia after the secession of the Crimea is based on strategic provisions and may lead to increasing by 2 % of the GDP of the USA, and the biggest part will get back to the USA. – RT.DE. _

What is the truth?

In fact, there are representatives of the extreme right in Ukraine, as in many developed countries, as well as in Russia, but these organizations are few and far from having as much support in society and government as the pro-Kremlin media try to portray.

During Euromaidan, the vast majority of protesters were civilians, members of radical groups such as the Right Sector, numbering no more than a thousand out of eight million. In the 2014 presidential election, the candidate from the Right Sector group received 0.7% of the vote.

Moreover, at least 400 fakes of Russian propaganda about Nazism in Ukraine have been collected on the EUvsDisinfo website of the European External Action Service.

Fake: Maidan was organized / supported by other countries and some foreigners, in particular to eliminate the pro-Russian ruling class in Ukraine and replace it with ordinary pro-Western puppets

Potential organizers of the Maidan include the EU, NATO and the United States, as well as George Soros.

• It is simply the execution of orders from the United States, in the exclusive interest of Washington. They arise in the context of the Ukrainian conflict, after the planned coup d’etat against the Kyiv government was only half successful. The goal was to forcibly remove the ruling class close to Russia and replace it with the usual pro-Western puppets – Adhoc News .
• Although Moscow (also in the Ukrainian crisis) usually takes on a more passive and reactive role, it is always portrayed as an “aggressor”. And this is despite the fact that it is the United States, the EU and NATO that are actively supporting and promoting the coup d’etat in Kyiv. – Report 24 News .
• The state of affairs in Ukraine is the state orchestra of billionaire financiers George Soros and the representatives of the Obama administration. – SNA.IT.

What is the truth?

Such statements are unfounded. The Ukrainian authorities are independently responsible for their domestic and foreign policy. Western countries support us, but do not force us to make any changes.

In addition, VoxCheck has already refuted the fake about Soros’s statements about his own earnings during the war in Ukraine and the benefits of it from Europe . George Soros did not make such statements, but instead called on the EU to provide financial support to Ukraine, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine threatens the security of the whole Europe.

Fake: The Maidan was organized to destabilize Russia

This is a recurring narrative of Russia about the West, which uses Ukraine as an instrument of military confrontation against it. Among other things, Putin also uses this thesis to justify a war with Ukraine.

• Since the 2014 coup d’etat, Ukraine has always been a convenient tool for the West to provoke against Russia, which could be kept sharp with military aid. – RT.DE. _

What is the truth?

In fact, cooperation between Ukraine and the West is comprehensive and is not limited to military issues.

In 2014, Kyiv and the EU signed an Association Agreement, which helped to deepen economic and political ties based on common values. The West provides financial support to Ukraine mainly for reforms and economic stabilization.

Ukraine is really cooperating with the West in the military sphere. Since 2014, cooperation in critical areas has intensified. However, this cooperation is aimed only at increasing Ukraine’s defense capabilities, and not to the detriment of any country, including Russia.

Fake: The Maidan provoked the separation of Donetsk and Luhansk, and the civil war 

In January 2021, the Italian and German branches of the SNA wrote that the reason for the start of Ukraine’s military operation against the LNR and the DPR and the country’s civil war was the February 2014 coup d’etat in Kyiv. Due to it the Autonomous Republic of Crimea later seceded, and Donetsk and Luhansk declared independence – they could not accept the illegal change of government.

• The Ukrainian authorities launched a military operation in April 2014 against the self-declared republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, which had proclaimed independence after the February 2014 coup in Kyiv. — SNA. DE .
• The coup on the Maidan in 2014 was the most important reason why Ukrainian citizens in the Donbass in the southeast of Ukraine became separatists and decided to secede from Ukraine, which led to the civil war that is still ongoing and has recently flared up again with anyway. — Infosperber .

What is the truth?

Not the Revolution of Dignity but Russian aggression led to the war in the East and the occupation of Crimea. Moreover, Russia also attacked on the information front, spreading fakes about brutal right-wing Euromaidan activists who want to deal with the Russian-speaking population of Donbass and Crimea, from which they must be “saved” immediately.

These theses became the basis for the provocation and formation of “republics” that were never really independent. In 2014, during a rally to secede from Ukraine in Donetsk, militants raised the Russian flag and Russian citizens took leadership positions. The “prime minister” of the DPR in 2014, Russian Alexander Borodai, stated later that if it were not for Putin, his policy of decision and action, there would be no Russian Donbass: DPR and LPR.

Russia’s intervention in the war has been proven repeatedly . The regular Russian army, codenamed Ikhtamnet, took part in the battles against the Armed Forces in the summer of 2014, in the winter of 2015, and all the time afterwards, and was also responsible for shooting down MH-17. The presence of the Russian Federation was recognized by the OSCE and Bellingcat investigators : thousands of Russian servicemen took part in the fighting in eastern Ukraine and were awarded medals. Moreover, Russia was systematically increasing its influence in the occupied territories. In particular, in 2020, about 165 Russian passports were issued to residents of the DPR and the LPR and in 2021 – admission to the party «United Russia» and the right to vote in Russian elections. So there can be no question of any civil war.

Fake: Crimea voluntarily seceded from Ukraine via a post-Maidan referendum

Such statements are aimed at justifying the occupation of Crimea, as if the citizens themselves made such a decision, and Russia has nothing to do with it.

• In 2014, the local government of Crimea refused to recognize the new government emerged because of the pro-Western coup ‘Euromaidan’ as legitimate and asked its citizens to decide via a popular referendum whether to continue to be part of Ukraine or to rejoin Russia. – Il Primato Nazionale.

A decision to hold a “voluntary” referendum was made by the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in the parliament building seized at that time by the unrecognized Russian military and under the barrels of machine guns.

The “referendum” itself was also held with numerous structural violations, including:

• manipulative and non-alternative questions: the option “keep in Ukraine” was not provided to participants;
• lack of international observers other than Russian;
• fraud with turnout. Crimean journalists and voters have repeatedly stated that ballots were issued in big quantity to the same people, and that they were also issued to people with Russian passports.

Moreover, its implementation did not comply with the domestic legislation of the time: such a decision had to be made at the legislative level, and only then made at the local level.