DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS
- Outlet: headtopics.com ( archive, original ) , almasryalyoum.com ( archive #1, archive #2, original ) , mawazin.net ( archive, original ) , arabic.rt.com ( archive #1, archive #2, original ) , nafeza2world.com ( archive, original ) , sanaanews.net ( archive, original ) , news.essahra.net ( archive, original ) , pressn.net ( archive, original ) , m.elsaanews.com ( archive, original ) , arabic.rt.com ( archive #1, archive #2, original ) , sahafahonline.net ( archive, original ) , khlaasa.net ( archive, original ) , syriafriends.net ( archive, original )
- Date of publication: September 13, 2021
- Article language(s): Arabic
- Countries / regions discussed: Russia, Ukraine
DISINFO: Crimea became Russian after the 2014 coup
SUMMARY
The events of March 2014 resulted in the entry of Ukrainian Crimea under Russian sovereignty based on the results of a popular referendum held there after the coup that overthrew the rule of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in Ukraine.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the 2013-14 protests in Kyiv painted as a coup d'état while claiming that the illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula came as a response to those protests.
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 European Union in November 2013.
Since 2014, Russia has waged large-scale armed aggression against Ukraine and 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.
No international body recognises the so-called referendum or annexation in Crimea. The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution entitled “Territorial integrity of Ukraine”, stating that the referendum in Crimea was not valid and could not serve as a basis for any change in the status of the peninsula. See the full debunk of this disinformation claim.
The EU is among the strongest advocates of Ukraine's sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity.
Read similar cases claiming that a violent coup d’état took place in Ukraine in 2014; or that the EU supported an unconstitutional coup d'état in Ukraine led by the US; or that Russia has nothing to do with the Ukrainian conflict; or that Crimea’s reunification with Russia was legal; or that Crimea has never been Ukraine; or that Political disagreements are behind the halt of the NATO-Russia Council; or that the people of Crimea legally decided their fate in 2014.