- Sputnik International, 1920
Analysis
Enjoy in-depth, acute analysis of the most pressing local, regional and global trends at Sputnik!

'Russophobic US Elite' Sought to Weaken Russia with Euromaidan, 'But Failed' - Ex-MEP

© Sputnik / Andrey Stenin / Go to the mediabankProtesters on Maidan Square in Kiev, Ukraine, in February 2014.
Protesters on Maidan Square in Kiev, Ukraine, in February 2014. - Sputnik International, 1920, 18.02.2024
Subscribe
Longread
On the 10th anniversary of the events in Ukraine known as the Euromaidan (lit. "Euro Square") unrest, which eventually resulted in a coup and the ouster of then-President Viktor Yanukovych, a Spanish politician has shared his opinion on how the EU allowed itself to be drawn into the existing crisis for the sake of US interests.
After the foreign-sponsored coup in Kiev in 2014, the “openly Russophobic elite” of the West sought to weaken Russia, but failed, former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Spain Javier Couso Permuy told Sputnik.
Furthermore, the EU undermined its own authority because of Ukraine, he pointed out.
Weighing in on what prompted the EU to push for an association agreement between Ukraine and European countries, and whether a different scenario could have unfolded if the agreement had been signed immediately, he underscored:

“You can’t take out of context what happened 10 years ago without remembering the attempt to intervene [in internal affairs] in 2004, called the 'Orange Revolution.' All the elements that came together later and on a larger scale were also present there when the coup d’état was staged during the Euromaidan. There was a clear intervention by the US authorities on all levels, ranging from political, with statements from top officials, to financial, when US government funds were allocated supposedly to promote democracy in the post-Soviet space.”

Euromaidan, a wave of demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, began on November 21, 2013 on Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kiev over former President Viktor Yanukovych's decision to prioritize accords with Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union instead of signing the European Union-Ukraine Association Agreement. Along with simultaneous talks on Ukrainian membership in the Eurasian Economic Union with Russia, this fomented a political crisis.

At the time, thousands of protesters filled the streets of the Ukrainian capital, demanding the resumption of talks on the EU Association Agreement. Many of the protests were marshaled by US and EU-funded non-governmental organizations, who boasted experience in staging the color revolution in the country during the so-called Orange Revolution of 2004-2005.
In reality, this EU Association Agreement to assure Ukraine’s "European future," like all association agreements that the European Union enters into, “involved significant interference in internal affairs,” Javier Couso pointed out.
In other words, it always forces political reforms,” the pundit said, adding that the agreement “simply served as a tool to destroy good relations between Ukraine and Russia."
“This was done throughout the post-Soviet space, with the help of association agreements or through interference in internal affairs and coups, which were called 'color revolutions',” Couso said.
Fire, smoke and protesters on Maidan square in Kiev. February 22, 2014. - Sputnik International, 1920, 21.11.2023
Analysis
Euromaidan Ten Years On: Color Revolution That Brought Ukraine to Ruin
"Later, we clearly saw the governments that arose as a result of this coup d'etat, first led by Poroshenko, and then by Zelensky, with laws that could not have been adopted within the European Union under any circumstances,” the former MEP continued.

“I'm talking about language laws or those that changed the history of the country, such as de-Sovietization or ethnic laws that divided Ukrainians into first- and second-class citizens,” Couso stressed.

Looking back at why the West failed to achieve its goal with the help of that bloody coup 10 years ago, Couso suggested the answer was obvious. The plan was concocted by a “certain part of the US elite, openly Russophobic, and the European elites subordinate to it, who have been trying to construct a reality based on their ideology,” he emphasized, adding:
“Its basis is not only the desire to contain and weaken Russia, but also to split it, break it up into fragments, because it is far too large and boasts enormous natural wealth.”
A participant of protest rallies for Ukraine's European integration on Grushevskogo Street in Kiev, Ukraine - Sputnik International, 1920, 21.11.2023
Multimedia
How It All Began: 10 Years of Euromaidan in Ukraine
As for what went wrong, those behind the Euromaidan plans "failed to take into account that Ukraine is a diverse country, home to various cultural and linguistic minorities, including Romanian, Hungarian, and those who love Russia… Yet there was the desire to impose pro-Western Ukrainian nationalism, which is based on neo-fascist or neo-Nazi elements that justify the terrible legacy of Ukrainian war criminals, such as Stepan Bandera.”
It is obvious that the West’s plan was a complete failure, according to Couso. It was not possible to achieve ethnic, linguistic, and cultural unification of the country except through military action – something that we observed before the start of the Russian special military operation, the former MEP pointed out.

“From 2014 to 2022, over 14,000 people were victims of direct attacks by armed forces led by these neo-Nazi groups in the Donbass regions, who opposed the coup d'etat, defended their right to participate in the life of a diverse Ukraine and to preserve their native Russian language,” Javier Couso said.

Furthermore, events of recent years have clearly shown that agreements with European politicians are worthless, with the Minsk accords, for example, used as a smokescreen to avoid Ukraine's imminent defeat in 2014. Successive Ukrainian governments refused to implement the peace deal signed in the Belarusian capital in February of 2015 and designed to resolve the crisis in Donbass. Western powers also sabotaged Russian-Ukrainian peace talks in the spring of 2022 – held in the first weeks after Russia kicked off its special military operation.
“The European Union, and above all the large countries that simply abandoned part of their history, such as Germany and France, have inflicted enormous damage on the authority of diplomacy and in the field of international politics," Javier Couso said.
Acting “in bad faith,” and “undermining the credibility of us as citizens of the European Union,” their goal was “to deceive Russia for the opportunity to continue rearming the Ukrainian Army.”

"The European Union is a vassal of the United States... Just like NATO, which has subordinated our military capabilities to Wahsington, the EU is under the geopolitical leadership of the US, or, as some historians and analysts believe, is a successful project of the United States," the politician accentuated.

"In reality, countries that are members of the EU have lost monetary, macroeconomic, and defense sovereignty, [...] strictly following the foreign relations policies and instructions coming from Washington. The population of the European Union is daily forced to pay out of their own pockets for the geopolitical mistakes of their leaders who shot themselves in the foot by continuing unlimited support for a failing Ukraine," Couso underscored. He recalled that the rounds of Western sanctions have failed to "cripple" Russia, while boomeranging on the European population.

"I imagine that there will be a lot of turmoil in the future not only for the European Union, but also for NATO, because this war will end. And as all analysts say, Russia will win... In other words, they will not achieve what they set out to achieve," Javier Couso summed up.

A Greek presidential guard stands framed bythe remains of a European Union flag half-burnt by protesters in Athens, on Wednesday, May 1, 2013 - Sputnik International, 1920, 15.02.2024
Analysis
Europe 'In For Very Rocky Times' After Failed Sanctions on Russia
Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала