‘Euromaidan’: 10 years of Disappointment

On November 21 a state holiday is observed in Ukraine: Day of Dignity and Freedom. But we would rather refer to it as Remembrance Day for Dashed Hopes. Exactly 10 years ago, backers of European integration started to rally on Kiev’s central square in what became known as ‘Euromaidan.’ It was preceded by the decision of then President Yanukovich to postpone signing the EU Association Agreement in order to weigh once again all ‘pros’ and ‘contras’ of such an important decision.

We’re sure many of ‘Euromaidan’ participants sincerely believed they were struggling for their bright new future in Europe and against corruption of their political leadership. Yet, their protest was utilized by masterminds from far away with a sole purpose to turn Ukraine into ‘anti-Russia’.

To give you an idea who was behind these events, back in 2014, US’ Victoria Nuland admitted on CNN that after the collapse of the USSR, Washington spent 5 billion dollars on ‘supporting the aspirations of the Ukrainian people for a stronger democratic government.’

The culmination of ‘Euromaidan’ events was an unconstitutional coup in Kiev in February 2014. By that moment an agreement between Yanukovich and opposition leaders was reached, guaranteed by Foreign Ministers of Germany, France and Poland, providing for early elections and opening way to political settlement in Ukraine. But no, someone didn’t want this crisis to end peacefully. On 20 February 2014 some ‘unidentified snipers’ began shooting both protesters and police officers in the back, leaving altogether over 50 dead – arguably, to make positions of protesters and authorities irreconcilable.

Riding the wave of bloody violence and having trampled on the agreements, radical forces seized power in Ukraine and established an openly pro-Nazi regime. While the so-called ‘guarantors’ quickly took their guarantees back and even hailed the coup as a ‘manifestation of democracy.’

Have people of Ukraine obtained more ‘dignity and freedom,’ or economic prosperity following ‘Euromaidan’? Hardly so. Not only did corruption not disappear, it dramatically surged. Severing long-established ties with Russia proved costly for Ukrainian economy. Standard of living of people sank. The much-touted visa-free regime with EU only increased migration from Ukraine to Europe.

The ‘democratic’ government which seized power in Kiev went on to suspend activities of eleven (all main) opposition parties, close media outlets, murder intractable journalists, persecute traditional Ukrainian orthodox church.

The Kiev regime encouraged by its Western masters started to wipe out everything Russian in Ukraine, closed Russian schools, put up numerous restrictions on distribution of cultural products in the Russian language (native for the majority of Ukrainians). Alternative history rehabilitating World War II Nazi collaborators was imposed on people trough propaganda channels.

The coup, totally anti-Russian in its nature, led to a deep fracture in Ukrainian society. Russian Crimea did not put up with this situation and voted in favor of the peninsula’s return to Russia at the referendum on 16 March 2014, almost unanimously.

Unrest further spread to the country’s entire Southeast. New authorities of Ukraine responded with a massive crackdown on dissent, using neo-Nazi formations, and unleashed a war against the region of Donbass.

On 2 May 2014 the event known as the Odessa Massacre took place. Civilians who took part in a demonstration protesting the unconstitutional coup in Kiev were blocked by the Ukrainian ultranationalists in the Trade Unions’ House. The building was torched. 42 people burnt alive.

On 9 May 2014, people in Mariupol went to the streets to celebrate Victory Day. The Kiev-installed chief of the city police ordered to disband the peaceful procession, but the policemen refused to obey the order. After that, tanks of Ukrainian National Guard, involving the Nazi ‘Azov’ battalion, entered the city and opened fire at local police. Some 50 people were killed.

As a result, Donetsk and Lugansk regions held independence referenda in 2014 and de-facto seceded from Ukraine having taken, according to some estimates, up to 30% of the country’s GDP. And this should be also regarded as the direct consequence of ‘Euromaidan.’

Nobody can blame Russia it hadn’t done enough to peacefully settle Ukraine conflict. Through Russia’s active mediation in February 2015 the Minsk agreements between Kiev authorities and Donbass leadership were signed. These acts guaranteed Ukraine’s territorial integrity on a provision that Donbass receives certain autonomy. Despite the ‘Minsk package’ was approved by the UNSC, Kiev consistently sabotaged its obligations under the treaty for 8 years under the collective West’s blind eye.

So it came as no surprise, when ex-leaders of Germany and France who had co-sponsored the Minsk negotiations eventually admitted in 2022 that they regarded the Minsk agreements as an opportunity to better arm Ukraine and prepare it for a war with Russia, rather than to bring peace to Donbass.

Since 2014, Ukraine’s armed formations never stopped shelling Donbass. An inhumane social and economic blockade imposed against its residents put the region on the brink of survival. US and its NATO allies fully supported this destructive policy and continued military exploitation of the territory of Ukraine. They encouraged aggressive Russophobia, ignored numerous manifestations of neo-Nazism, to turn the country into an anti-Russia foothold.

By efforts of the West, Ukraine was rapidly turning into a country extremely hostile towards Russia. For 8 years following ‘Euromaidan,’ it was militarized and pumped with weapons, foreign military bases and biolabs were established in its territory. By the beginning of the special military operation (24 February 2022), there were about 10,000 NATO servicemen stationed in Ukraine, including 4,000 from the US.

But even then, Russia did try to settle the crisis peacefully, having presented the draft agreements on mutual security guarantees with the USA and NATO that would resolve our security concerns. However, all key points were ignored. Russia was left with no other option but to resort to military force.

10 years into ‘Euromaidan,’ we all witness what the price of a loss of national sovereignty and blind trust to Western ‘partners’ can be. Yet another geopolitical venture of the US cost Ukraine hundreds of thousands of lives of its people and significant part of its territory. While all hopes of Ukrainians for better life dashed.

Photo by Andrei Stenin / RIA Novosti