DISINFO: Ukraine has lost its independence
SUMMARY
For many years, there has been an attempt to force a false choice “with us or against us” on Kyiv, between the development of cooperation in the East or in the West, which ultimately led to the collapse of the Ukrainian statehood that had never been strong. The result for today is the de facto loss of independence, the suffering of people, the collapse of the country’s economy, which had all the opportunities to become one of the most stable and economically strong in Europe.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation about Ukraine's statehood euvsdisinfo.eu/disinformation-cases/?text=&disinfo_issue=&disinfo_keywords%5B%5D=77158&date=,
It was Russia, not the West, who annexed Crimea and waged the war in Donbas in 2014. As for the West, it has never forced Kyiv to make so-called “false choice between Russia and Europe”.
The demonstrations which began in Kyiv in November 2013 – called "Maidan", or "Euromaidan" – were not provoked from outside but were a result of the Ukrainian people's frustration with former President Yanukovych's last minute U-turn when, after seven years of negotiation, he refused to sign the EU–Ukraine Association Agreement and halted progress towards Ukraine's closer relationship with the EU as a result of Russian pressure. The protesters' demands included constitutional reform, a stronger role for parliament, formation of a government of national unity, an end to corruption, early presidential elections and an end to violence http://bit.ly/2ftv6iT. The European Union does not recognise the illegal annexation of Crimea and continues to condemn this violation of international law, and that Russia’s illegal actions remain a direct challenge to international security, with grave implications for the international legal order that protects the unity and sovereignty of all States.