DISINFO: Europe turns a blind eye towards the oppression of ethnic Russians in Ukraine and the Baltic states
SUMMARY
As far as Russia is concerned, the first clear and blatant example of Western double standards is the denial of the rights of Russian citizens who live in the Baltic states, which are members of the European Union. Then came the events of Ukraine, where the Nazi hands – under the slogan “Struggle for Democracy” – launched a coup against the legitimate authority, and since then began their campaigns against Russian citizens, Russian speakers, and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In both cases, Europe turned a blind eye to what was happening, and claimed that everything was fine, and even participated in repression and crimes.
RESPONSE
A conspiracy theory based on ungrounded claims aimed to present Russians as victims of a deliberate plot of the West with post-Soviet countries. This is an illustrative example of the recurring pro-Kremlin propagandistic narrative about ubiquitous Russophobia in the West and post-Soviet countries alike. For background, read our analysis The “Russophobia” Myth: Appealing to the Lowest Feelingsand look at earlier disinformation cases alleging that Russophobia is the main activity of the Latvian state and that Russophobic Lithuania plans to tear Belarus away from Russia by dragging it into the Western energy network.
This publication also contains pro-Kremlin narratives about Fascist / Nazi Ukraine and the Baltic states, the persecution of the Russian language speakers, and belligerent West waging an ideological war and making plots against Russia. The accusation of Nazism is one of the favourite techniques of pro-Kremlin outlets as explained in our past analysis Nazi east, Nazi west, Nazi over the cuckoo's nest.
Moreover, there was no coup d'etat in Ukraine. The spontaneous onset of the Euromaidan protests was an organic reaction by numerous parts of the Ukrainian population to former President Yanukovych’s sudden departure from the promised Association Agreement with the European Union in November 2013. See the full debunk of this disinformation claim.