Euromaidan

Euromaidan
Demonstrations on the Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Kiev
Duration November 21, 2013 to February 26, 2014 place Ukraine , mainly Kiev trigger The Ukrainian government did not sign the Association Agreement with the European Union Trade sanctions from Russia and its pressure on Ukraine to join the customs union between Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus high unemployment, corruption in the state organs at all levels excessive police violence in breaking up protests on November 30, 2013 aims international sanctions against President Viktor Yanukovych , Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and some other members of the government Initiation of impeachment proceedings against Yanukovych early presidential elections Signing of the Association Agreement with the European Union Effects Yanukovych's escape and deposition Change of government Crimean crisis Ukraine war
Organizations within the conflicting parties
Oppositional political parties All-Ukrainian Association "Batkivshchyna" Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reforms (UDAR) All-Ukrainian Association "Svoboda" Militant groups Right sector Churches Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Crimean Tatars Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people	Government of Ukraine Ministry of Interior of Ukraine "Berkut" special task force Inner troops Security Service of Ukraine Pro-government parties Party of Regions Communist Party of Ukraine Russian block

Demonstrations in Kiev on November 27, 2013

Euromaidan (also euromaidan , Ukrainian Євромайдан Jewromajdan , word meaning, see below ; in Ukraine retrospect revolution of dignity , Ukrainian Революція гідності Rewoljuzija hidnosti ) referred protests in Ukraine between November 2013 and February 2014. This was triggered by the surprising statement by the Ukrainian government, the Association Agreement Not wanting to sign with the European Union for the time being. The demonstrations flared up again on November 29, 2013 after it was not signed at the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius . The protests took on their mass character on December 1, 2013, after the day before peaceful student protests had been dispersed with excessive force by the Berkut special unit of the Ukrainian police . The protesters demanded the impeachment of President Viktor Yanukovych , early presidential elections and the signing of the Association Agreement with the European Union.

On December 8, 2013, hundreds of thousands of people took part in the demonstration on Majdan Nezalezhnosti ("Independence Square") in Kiev . Some media reported over a million demonstrators. Despite an above-average police presence and evacuation attempts, the civil revolution continued. From February 18, 2014, there was an escalation that claimed over 80 deaths. After the agreed settlement of the conflict through a treaty brokered by the foreign ministers of Germany , France and Poland on February 21, Yanukovych fled hastily that same night. On February 22, 2014, Parliament declared President Yanukovych to be deposed due to the flight. The Euromaidan came to an end with the appointment of Oleksandr Turchynov as transitional president on February 23 and finally the formation of a transitional government under Arseniy Yatsenyuk on February 26, after Prime Minister Azarov had resigned with the entire government on January 28 before the vote of no confidence anticipate planned deposition.

During the final phase, Russia began annexing Crimea and destabilizing the country through an armed conflict in two eastern oblasts of Ukraine .

Word meaning

The word Euromaidan has two parts: Euro stands for Europe and maidan refers to Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square), Kiev's central square, where most of the protests took place.

The term "Euromaidan" was originally used as a hashtag on Twitter . A Twitter user profile called Euromaidan was created on the first day of the protests. The name quickly became popular in the international media.

causes

Failure to sign the Association Agreement as an occasion and trigger

The surprise suspension of the Association Agreement by the government under President Yanukovych was the trigger for the protests, but it was neither the sole concern nor the main concern of all demonstrators nor the sole cause. The Gorschenin Institute in Kiev conducted a street poll among the demonstrators on December 2, 2013: 56 percent of those questioned said they were protesting on the Maidan to demonstrate for the resignation of the government and the president. Although the respondents were allowed to give more than one reason, only 28 percent cited the rejection of the EU agreement. Media reports have been calling for resignation from the start. Heiko Pleines (Research Center for Eastern Europe University Bremen) states that on average between 2004 and 2014, only 30 to 40 percent of the population were in favor of EU integration. The number of those in favor of rapprochement with Russia was just as high. In February 2014, support for the Association Agreement was 48 percent. According to their own statements, only 18 percent knew the content of the agreement well.

Anger among supporters of the Association Agreement was heightened by the fact that Yanukovych met with Putin in Sochi to sign an agreement on financial assistance and lower gas prices in return for later joining the Customs Union.

The pressure of Russia

In 2013, months before Ukraine's association agreement with the EU was due to be signed, Putin increased the pressure on the now “disgraced” President Yanukovych with trade sanctions, import bans and anti-EU propaganda ; "With power and blackmail, President Putin had brought Ukraine under President Yanukovych back into Moscow's sphere of influence." This with a view to the Eurasian Economic Union , which was supposed to bring the states of the former CIS under the leadership of Russia together economically and which excluded the middle path that Ukraine had taken since 1991. At Maybrit Illner , the Ukrainian ambassador Pavlo Klimkin spoke about Russia's sanctions in September 2013 and said that joining NATO was not an option; Harald Kujat explains that the admission of the Baltic states to NATO was against the USA, but at the insistence of Germany.

Mikheil Saakashvili confirmed the reason for the Russian pressure in mid-February with a foreseeable turning point for Russia: He predicted that the Russian empire would die on the Maidan. Andrei Illarionov also predicted that if Putin did not achieve the task he had set himself to reunite the “old Russian lands”, part of the Ukraine would be taken over by Russia, analogous to Moldova and Georgia.

"Considerations" on Russian state television

On state television of the Russian Federation, the journalist was Dmitry Kiselyov occurred and had urged his viewers that the agreement that the EU is the Ukraine had offered a plan of Poland , Sweden and Lithuania is to sign up for the defeat in the Battle of Poltava in To avenge Russia in 1709. Most of the Russian propaganda , however, related to the objectionable decadence of the West. In the fall, the Russian media stepped up propaganda.

Reflections on the policies of the EU and the USA

The political scientist Herfried Münkler said that nobody in the EU had prepared for strategic counter-actors; it would have been assumed that it was only "a matter of administering prosperity and enforcing human rights norms". Political scientist John J. Mearsheimer , on the other hand, took the position that the USA and the European Union had both pushed for eastward expansion, although they knew the Russian stance: From the Russian point of view, EU enlargement is a “ straw man ” (“stalking horse “) Held by NATO, which of course hid the peoples' right to self-determination, which Ukraine also has. Former EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso said that Russia, who had been informed in every detail, had no concerns about Ukraine joining the EU until 2012. "Putin was overcome by the fear of losing face".

Ambiguous situation and uncertainty in Ukraine

Building of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry with EU flag

Growing pressure from Russia not only through threats and promises, but also through very specific trade sanctions in autumn 2013, interacted with the very high expectations and insufficient sensitivity of the EU to the economic recession and the lack of financial reserves in Ukraine. In addition, the EU did not understand Ukraine's dependence on trade with Russia - which made the pressure from Russia on Ukraine even more effective. Given the economic situation, Yanukovych found the association with the EU too risky. Ukraine's foreign policy since 1991 had been largely shaped by the fact that it did not go along with one side or the other. Yanukovych wanted to keep this "luxury of a multivectoral politics" open by delaying the association. This gave rise to the uprising of those who were dissatisfied with the decision. It was only in December that it became known that Russia had promised Ukraine 15 billion dollars in government bonds and a (temporary) reduction in the price of gas from 400 to 270 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters.

On the one hand, according to a Russian statement by Sergei Evgenyevich Naryshkin, EU representatives on the one hand had promised an improvement in the standard of living for Ukraine if President Viktor Yanukovych signed the agreement, and at the same time the EU had asked Kiev to tighten its belt over the next ten years and prepare for mass unemployment and company closures.

Media influence

In a 2014 interview with Washington Post journalist Lally Weymouth, then-presidential candidate (and later president) and former opposition leader Petro Poroshenko said in 2014 :

“From the time I was elected to parliament, I was not voting for the government. I was sure it did not have a chance to survive. From the beginning, I was one of the organizers of the Maidan. My television channel - Channel 5 - played a tremendously important role. We gave the opportunity to the journalists to tell the truth. … On the 11th of December, when we had [US Assistant Secretary of State ] Victoria Nuland and [EU diplomat] Catherine Ashton in Kiev, during the night they started to storm the Maidan. "

“I haven't voted for the government since I was elected to parliament. I was sure she had no chance of survival. I was one of the organizers of the Maidan from the start. My television station - Kanal 5 - played a hugely important role. We gave journalists the opportunity to tell the truth. … On December 11th (2013), when we had Victoria Nuland [Head of Division of the US Department of State] and EU Foreign Policy Spokeswoman Catherine Ashton in Kiev, during that night the storm on the Maidan began. "

- Petro Poroshenko in an interview with Lally Weymouth : Interview with Ukrainian presidential candidate Petro Poroshenko

Dissatisfaction with the government

1. Corruption: Parts of the judicial and economic system were and are considered corrupt. Anti-corruption slogans brought together people from across the political spectrum - from the extreme left to liberals to the extreme right.
2. Accusation of personal enrichment of the president and his family, who also fled: Yanukovych lived in a luxurious country estate. His service villa Meschyhirja , in state ownership since Ukraine gained independence in 1991, was able to transfer Yanukovych to his private property through companies in London and Vienna. Shortly after the 2010 election, he bought a chandelier worth 8 million euros.
3. The country's weak economy: On average, Ukrainians have around a tenth of the income of Germans, but they pay almost the same prices.
4. Allegation of electoral fraud: When Yanukovych was elected president, the OSCE saw no election fraud, but the defeated Tymoshenko did not recognize the legitimacy of Yanukovych's victory. In the 2012 parliamentary elections, OSCE observers criticized massive violations in favor of the Party of Regions.

Institutional vacuum

The institutions, especially in the economic area, were practically imposed from outside by the socialist system; they were controlled in the interests of the party. Property rights could only be enforced to a limited extent, and fraudulent enrichment through the break-up and cannibalization of companies or personal enrichment of management were widespread. Hence, much of the EU's appeal to Ukraine has been the institutional anchor it provides.

Reorientation of the Ukrainian oligarchs

The Donbass oligarchs , who ruled the whole country under Yanukovych, had gradually outgrown Donetsk, the “Russian” character of their homeland was thinning and their economic interests had become more “Ukrainian” or even “European”. Akhmetov in particular had outgrown the Donbass with his System Capital Management (SCM) group. Yanukovych had also begun to build his own rival economic empire and his power over the courts, police and prosecutors threatened the oligarchs, especially the "Akhmetov clan" that brought him to power.

course

Events in advance

→ Main article : Association Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine

On March 30, 2012, the European Union and Ukraine officially announced that negotiations on the Association Agreement had been completed and that the agreement could be signed soon. However, the EU Commission chief José Manuel Barroso and the EU foreign affairs representative Catherine Ashton declared that they did not want to sign and ratify the agreement. Even then, the reason given was the "impairment of democracy and the rule of law", in particular the arrest of the opposition members Julija Tymoshenko and Jurij Lutsenko .

On March 12, 2013, Yatsenjuk and Tjahnybok launched the “Ukraine, stand up” campaign. The declared aim from the beginning was the overthrow of Yanukovych.

On April 7, 2013, Yuriy Lutsenko was released from prison by order of President Yanukovych. The laws demanded by the EU were also actively prepared for adoption in the Verkhovna Rada , the Ukrainian parliament, despite massive pressure from Russia . On September 25, 2013, the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Volodymyr Rybak , said he was sure that Parliament would pass all the laws necessary to sign the Association Agreement in good time.

On November 18, 2013, Angela Merkel spoke out against a signature. In a government statement in the Bundestag, the Chancellor said she did not see Ukraine ready for the association agreement with the EU. The prerequisites for signing a contract are currently not in place. Merkel's negative stance on the treaty was no longer an issue in the German media in the weeks and months that followed.

On November 19, opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk informed the Ukrainian media that President Yanukovych would not sign the agreement.

On November 21, the Ukrainian government headed by Prime Minister Mykola Azarov announced that it had stopped preparations for signing the agreement. Azarov emphasized that the "tactical withdrawal" was made solely for economic reasons and did not change Ukraine's strategic direction.

The preparations were stopped on November 21, 2013 by a government decree . The reasons given were the deterioration in the economic situation in Ukraine and the slowdown in relations with the CIS countries . To compensate for the decline in industrial production, Ukraine would have needed freer access to European markets . The "extremely harsh conditions" of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) , such as the 40 percent increase in gas prices on the domestic market and severe budget cuts, contributed to the halt in preparations. The conditions demanded by the IMF were later slightly revised, but the Ukrainian government continues to rate them as "unacceptable".

The EU summit , at which the association agreement was also to be signed, took place in Vilnius from November 28-29, 2013 . President Yanukovych took part, but the agreement that had been negotiated over several years was not signed. Both sides expressed their wish to continue the dialogue on the agreement at a later date.

November 21 to November 29, 2013

Demonstration in Lviv , November 24, 2013

On the night of November 21, 2013, around 2,000 protesters gathered on Maidan Nezalezhnosti . The protests were organized mainly through social networks , in particular Facebook and, to a lesser extent, Twitter . The journalist Mustafa Najem is considered one of the initiators of the protests . On November 21, 2013, he called on his Facebook page to gather at 10:30 p.m. on the Majdan Nezaleschnosti to peacefully protest against the suspension of the Association Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine. Immediately after the protests began, two television stations, Hromadske.TV and Espreso TV , were set up that dealt intensively with the protests and largely showed solidarity with their participants.

The protest movement continued on the following days, although the number of protesters remained unchanged at around 2,000. Several thousand students and some members of the opposition also joined the movement.

A first major protest with an estimated 50,000 to 200,000 participants took place on November 24th, with the majority of participants being young people under the age of 25. Thousands of people also traveled to Kiev from other parts of the country to take part in the demonstrations. News outlets said the protests were the largest since the 2004 Orange Revolution . After a small group of demonstrators tried to storm the Ukrainian government building, police used batons and tear gas to stop the riot.

On November 25, 2013, Yulia Tymoshenko announced a hunger strike as a protest against the government's course, but ended it a few days later.

After the November 24 demonstration , attendance checks were introduced in many universities, such as the Polytechnic Institute in Kharkiv , the National University of Food Technologies in Kiev, the Bogomolets University of Medicine in Kiev, and some other institutes and universities. Those who took part in the protests during the lecture period or in the evening were threatened with de-registration . However, the deterrent effect hoped for by the government did not materialize. The number of students participating in the protest marches rose from 2,000 on November 26th to more than 10,000 on November 28th.

When it became known on November 29th that the Association Agreement had not been signed, tens of thousands of people flocked to Maidan Nezaleschnosti again. There was also a large demonstration in Lviv with 20,000 participants. Some singers popular in Ukraine, such as Svyatoslaw Wakarchuk with Okean Elsy and Ruslana Lyschytschko , as well as many members of the opposition, including Arsenij Yazenjuk , Vitali Klitschko ( UDAR ) and Oleh Tjahnybok ( All-Ukrainian Association "Swoboda" ), called for a peaceful revolution on the Maidan and called for the resignation of Yanukovych. In Lviv, a human chain was formed to the border with the European Union, which, according to the organizers, even extended beyond the Polish border.

November 30th to December 1st, 2013

Demonstrations on December 1, 2013 in Kiev.

Under the pretext of wanting to set up a Christmas tree on the Majdan Nesaleschnosti, the Berkut special unit attacked the protesting camp on the night of November 30th at around 4:00 a.m. The police were unusually harsh, injuring around 80 civilians, including a Reuters cameraman and a photographer. Chased by the police, about 50 protesters fled to St. Michael's Monastery , where they ultimately found refuge. The police then besieged the monastery.

The decision to evict the protesters may have been made in the belief that the participants would have been paid, as has always been the case with Party of Regions demonstrations. Participants in paid protests would normally have simply run away and no such resistance would have been expected.

On the same day, around 5,000 people gathered in front of the monastery alone. Some government opponents began to form "self-defense units" - as they called themselves. Towards evening the number of protesters in front of the monastery increased to 10,000. An estimated 10,000 more were en route from Lviv to Kiev to join the protests in the capital. In order to coordinate the course of the protests, the opposition parties Batkivshchyna, UDAR and Svoboda set up a “Headquarters of the National Resistance”.

Despite the ban on gathering on the Maidan, which was imposed by a district court in Kiev on the night of November 30, an estimated 400,000 to 800,000 people went to demonstrations against the government on December 1. As part of the protests, the opposition called for a nationwide general strike and the expansion of a tent city on the Majdan. Government opponents managed to occupy the Kiev city hall and the house of the trade unions .

The website of the Ukrainian Ministry of Interior was inaccessible all day. According to media reports, hacking attacks were responsible, but no one took responsibility for the attack.

In the early evening of December 1st, violent clashes broke out in front of the President's administration building . Government opponents threw paving stones, attacked police officers with metal chains and tried to break through their ranks with an excavator. The opposition assured that the demonstration on the Maidan was peaceful and claimed that the riots were instigated by the government-hired Titushky, in particular Dmytro Korchynskyi and his right-wing organization Bratstvo (Brotherhood). Vitali Klitschko warned the demonstrators to be careful and warned that it would be dangerous to storm public buildings. Some members of the opposition, especially MP Petro Poroshenko , tried to stop the attack, but without success.

The behavior of the security forces was noticeable. The front ranks consisted exclusively of young cadets who, in the first hours of the attack, had only been equipped with light protective armor, but not with metal shields. The Berkut units, armed with batons, tear gas and stun grenades , were some distance from the clashes. However, it was these Berkut units that ultimately carried out the counterattack. In doing so, they were extremely tough. Several hundred demonstrators and random passers-by, as well as over 40 journalists, including foreigners, were injured, some seriously. Journalists and doctors were also beaten for showing ID and making it clear that they would not participate in protests. Dozens of people were arrested.

December 2 to December 7, 2013

In the week after the clashes, the protests were peaceful despite the tense situation. There were demonstrations not only on the Maidan, but also in the government district. Although the Kiev City Hall was occupied by the protesters, the employees who worked there were allowed to enter the building and go about their duties. The tent city on the Maidan was further fortified and expanded, kitchens, large screens and loudspeakers were installed, and several tents were pitched. Three major cities in western Ukraine, Lviv , Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil , called a general strike to show their support for the protests.

At noon on December 3, the opposition initiated a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Azarov's government, however, which, as expected, failed with 186 instead of the required 226 votes, as the pro-government Party of Regions had together with the allied communist party a parliamentary majority. In his address to parliament, Azarov called on the protesters to voluntarily evacuate the occupied buildings, otherwise eviction cannot be ruled out.

Despite the ongoing protests, President Yanukovych left the country on December 3 for an official visit to Beijing lasting several days . On December 6, he also made an unplanned stopover in Sochi on his way back to Ukraine to discuss the current situation with President Putin. When it was rumored that Yanukovych had secretly signed an "important agreement" according to which Ukraine had received a loan of 5 billion euros as well as high discounts on gas prices and in return undertook to join the customs union at a later date, urged the opposition to immediately disclose all signed documents. However, both governments vehemently denied having signed documents in Sochi, despite the fact that Russian President Dmitry Peskov's press secretary admitted that there had been talks about gas price reductions and financial aid for Ukraine. On the same day, several groups of protesters left for the president's private residence Mezhyhirja , but were stopped by the massive presence of police and Berkut.

December 8, 2013 to January 15, 2014

The smeared Lenin monument on December 2, 2013

Protesters on the plinth of the fallen Lenin statue, December 8, 2013

The third and so far largest wave of protests occurred in Kiev on December 8th. At least 500,000 people demonstrated on the Majdan that day. The opposition even assumed a million participants and called this demonstration "the march of the millions". Later that evening, a group of masked people demolished a statue of Lenin on Taras Shevchenko Boulevard near central Bessarabska Square and instead installed the yellow-blue Ukrainian national flag on the base . The people shouted: "Yanukovych, you are next". The police had previously withdrawn and made no attempt to stop the group. The nationalist association Svoboda later publicly claimed to overthrow the statue of Lenin.

Despite several assurances from Yanukovych that he would do everything possible to defuse the situation, reports of increased activity by the executive organs increased on December 9th. Oleh Tjahnybok warned that the government planned to vacate the tent city on the Maidan in the next few days.

In the early morning of December 9th, around 730 soldiers from the Tiger and Leopard special forces broke through the blockade, which had been set up by EuroMaidan activists a few days earlier, and took up a position not far from the Majdans Nesaleschnosti. On the same day the three underground stations closest to the Majdan were closed due to an alleged bomb threat; however, one station was reopened later. Shortly afterwards, the police began to clear protest camps in the government district, and the police let provocateurs do theirs.

During a raid on one of the Kiev offices of the nationalist opposition party Batkivshchyna , a special unit with tactical equipment destroyed all servers belonging to the party and the independent magazines INTV , Evening News and Censor.Net.ua . Although the police initially denied their involvement, the Minister of the Interior later admitted that the raid was carried out as part of criminal proceedings relating to “fraud and misuse of office space”.

Stepan Bandera portrait, Kiev City Hall , January 14, 2014

On December 10 and 11, 2013, Victoria Nuland and Catherine Ashton visited the Maidan. Nuland spoke to the demonstrators and helped distribute food rations. They spoke to opposition leaders and the government. Nuland is conducting her later leaked conversation with Ambassador Geoffrey R. Pyatt . When the security forces made an advance through the barricades with over 1000 men in the middle of the night, thousands of people were alarmed within a short time, and they gradually arrived.

The heads of several churches mediated during the conflict and stood in full regalia between the fronts, as did the pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church , Ralf Haska. He reported about it in the German media.

On December 14, 2013, following investigations by the Prosecutor General Viktor Pschonka , the Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych voted for the impeachment of Deputy Head of the Security Council Volodymyr Sivkovych ( Володимир Леонідович Сівкович ) and the head of the Kiev city administration, Oleksandev . The reason is the "alleged involvement" in the "violation of the rights" of the demonstrators on the Maidan Nesaleschnosti. On the night of November 30, 2013, Popov and Sivkovich were in the office of the police chief of Kiev, Valery Korjak ( Валерій Володимирович Коряк ), and are said to have forced him to use force against the demonstrators.

On December 17, 2013, Russia offered Ukraine to buy Ukrainian government bonds worth $ 15 billion and reduce the price of gas supplies.

In the following weeks and beyond the turn of the year 2014, further opposition protest rallies took place in Kiev.

January 16, 2014 to mid-February 2014

Burning barricades (January 2014)

Demonstrations in Kiev on January 23, 2014.

In view of the ongoing protests, the Ukrainian parliament massively tightened the right to demonstrate on January 16, 2014. Among other things, the length of detention for the blockade and occupation of government buildings was increased. Parliament also made masking at demonstrations as well as defamation and "extremist calls" on the Internet a criminal offense. Defamation against members of the government could be punished with up to a year of forced labor.

Serious riots broke out in Kiev for the first time on January 19, 2014. A police bus went up in flames, masked government opponents tried to break barriers in the government district and storm parliament. The police used tear gas, stun grenades and water cannons.

After these riots, Vitali Klitschko arranged a meeting with Yanukovych for members of the government and opposition representatives. Klitschko himself was attacked by demonstrators during the riots. The riots claimed at least five people dead by January 22nd. The first two fatalities of the Euromaidan are the Belarusian Michail Schysnewski and the Armenian-born Sergeij Nigojan.

On January 24, opposition protesters stormed and occupied government buildings in Lviv and five other western Ukrainian cities.

In the event that Yanukovych was overthrown, Andrij Tarassenko ( Андрій Іванович Тарасенко ), a leader of the Right Sector, said: "We would give him and his family 24 hours to leave the country, otherwise there will be a revolutionary tribunal."

On January 28, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and the entire Ukrainian government announced their resignation. Klitschko commented: “This is not a victory, but a step towards victory.” Shortly afterwards, parliament decided with a large majority (361 of 412 votes) to abolish the controversial laws that had just been passed on January 16 that affect freedom of expression and assembly had restricted.

On February 4, Dmytro Jarosch , a spokesman for the Right Sector , stated in a TIME interview that he and his forces were ready for "armed struggle" and that his organization also had firearms .

In February 2014, more than half of the Maidan demonstrators surveyed spoke out in favor of the formation of armed formations. According to Andrew Wilson, a Senior Fellow of the European Council on Foreign Relations , their goal was a national revolution against the “Creole rulers” - against the “Russian-speaking criminal comprador elite of Ukraine”.

Escalation from February 18, 2014 and turnaround

Police forces attempted to evacuate the Maidan on February 19, 2014

Burning barricades on the Majdan on February 19, 2014 served as privacy screens.

Since February 18, 2014, there have again been serious clashes between the police and government opponents on Independence Square in Kiev. According to official information, at least 28 people were initially killed, the number of injuries on both sides was estimated at several hundred people. The police used, among other things, sharp weapons, Molotov cocktails and fragmentation grenades and worked hand in hand with Tituskies. Both parties to the conflict mutually assigned responsibility for the escalation. Government opponents reoccupied the town hall, which had been vacated two days earlier, to use it as a hospital. The house of the trade unions burned out almost completely. There were also riots in other cities in Ukraine, particularly in the west of the country, including Lviv , Ivano-Frankivsk and Rivne . Representatives of local police forces in cities in western and central Ukraine switched sides.

On February 20, 2014, despite a ceasefire negotiated and declared by the parliamentary opposition and President Yanukovych, violent clashes broke out between the police and government opponents. Various radical opposition groups, including the Right Sector , had not recognized the agreement to renounce violence and again threw fireworks and incendiary devices at government forces. They initially responded with tear gas. The clashes grew violent as the day wore on and got increasingly out of control. Government opponents and paramedics spoke of 60 to 70 dead on February 20, 2014 alone. Both the government forces and their opponents are now using more firearms, with targeted killings on both sides by the same unidentified snipers and snipers. During research in spring 2016, Spiegel TV mentioned 48 people killed on February 20. The army was not deployed on February 20 because of partial resistance within its own ranks.

Parliament had called for an end to "anti-terrorist action"; for the first time since 2010, the opposition was in the majority after 35 members of the Party of Regions joined it. On the evening of February 20, 2014, after talks with the foreign ministers of Germany, Poland and France, Yanukovych announced that he would give in to the most important demands of the opposition. Early presidential elections are expected to take place in 2014. In addition, the constitution of Ukraine should be amended and a transitional government should be formed within ten days. A corresponding agreement between the government and the opposition has not yet been signed.

After a brief hiatus and despite the announcement of an agreement, the violent clashes in Kiev continued on February 21. Firearms were used again. Many opponents of the government emphasized that the steps Yanukovych announced were not sufficient and that the president must resign immediately and be brought to justice.

The government-opposition agreement is signed on February 21

The Maidan Nesaleschnosti the day after the decision to reach an agreement

Signing of the contract on February 21

→ Main article : Agreement on the settlement of the crisis in Ukraine

On the afternoon of February 21, President Viktor Yanukovych and opposition leaders Yatsenyuk, Klitschko and Tjahnybok signed an agreement to settle the crisis. The foreign ministers of Poland and Germany, Radosław Sikorski and Frank-Walter Steinmeier , testified to the treaty with their signatures. Sikorski had told an opposition leader ahead of the signing of the treaty that if they did not support the deal they would face the army, martial law would prevail, and they would all die.

At the same time, the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) decided with 386 votes out of 450 to reintroduce the 2004 reformed version of the Constitution of Ukraine , which had been in force until September 2010. This step restricts the powers of the President.

On the day the agreement was signed, representatives of various opposition groups declared that they did not want to recognize the agreements made. On the night of Saturday, February 22, 2014, opposition leader Klitschko was booed at a rally on the Maidan and was called a "traitor" by the crowd of demonstrators. The mood on the Maidan was expressed by the 26-year-old Volodimir Parasiuk in an improvised speech by calling Klitschko's handshake with Yanukovych and new elections in December as unacceptable and asking Yanukovych to leave the city by 10 a.m. the next morning.

February 22-25, 2014 - Parliament and security forces join them

The opponents of President Viktor Yanukovych took power in Kiev on February 22nd. Various spokesmen for opposition groups have insisted on the demand for Yanukovych's immediate resignation. At the same time, news spread that Yanukovych had left Kiev and was now in Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine. Early in the afternoon, the Kiev police announced that they were ready to cooperate with the opposition. The Ministry of Interior of Ukraine said on its website that it supports political change in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Interior Ministry also announced that the security organs of the Interior Ministry of Ukraine (e.g. the police) in Kiev had officially sided with the opposition.

After the resignation of the President of Parliament Volodymyr Rybak , Oleksandr Turchynov was elected as the new President of Parliament on February 22nd. Turchynow belongs to the Fatherland party of the former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko . The parliament also voted with 328 votes in favor and no votes against for the removal of President Yanukovych and scheduled new elections for the office of President for May 25, 2014.

According to a statement on February 25 on the official government website of Interim President Turchinov, the transfer of power from Yanukovych to Turchinov on February 23 in the corresponding resolution of the Verkhovna Rada is based on Article 112 of the Ukrainian constitution . In the opinion of many political observers, Yanukovych was still the legitimate president of Ukraine from a purely legal point of view. Spiegel Online explains that according to Article 108 of the Ukrainian Constitution, the president's term of office can only end as a result of his death, resignation, health reasons or “in the course of impeachment proceedings”. According to Article 111, the prerequisite for impeachment proceedings are cases of “ high treason ” or the existence of another crime. At the request of parliament, a commission of inquiry would then have to be formed and the constitutional court had to be involved in an examination. "Only when such review procedures consider the prerequisites for removal from office as given can the Rada remove the president from office with a three-quarters majority." (Spiegel Online) 9 votes were missing.

The Scientific Service of the German Bundestag pointed out in a statement that, according to the wording of the constitution, none of the four facts mentioned there apply to the President's loss of office. In view of the factual inability of the president to exercise his office after his escape, the constitutional text is incomplete, and according to the German constitutional interpretation method, an analogy to the above-mentioned facts is possible. The legality of Yanukovych's dismissal cannot be conclusively assessed, and only a few constitutional lawyers have commented on this issue.

On February 22nd, Yanukovych declared that the parliament's vote was illegal. He spoke of a coup and ruled out a resignation from the presidency. The lawyer Jasper Finke made a distinction between constitutional law and international law on this issue: “It is completely irrelevant whether Yanukovych is still the legal president of Ukraine under Ukrainian constitutional law. Because here the so-called principle of effectiveness applies - that is, under international law, it depends on whether the new government effectively exercises power over the Ukraine. ”The Ministry of the Interior, the Ukrainian secret service and the army declared on February 22 that they were on the side of parliament .

Yulia Tymoshenko speaks to the demonstrators on the Maidan on February 22, 2014.

Yulia Tymoshenko was released from prison that day. Immediately after her release, she declared that a dictatorship had been overthrown. Everything must now be done to ensure that no demonstrator has died in vain. She also wants to run for the presidential election in May 2014. She then flew to Kiev and in a speech on the Maidan called on the demonstrators to continue the protests.

Governors and regional MPs in the Russian-speaking eastern part of Ukraine questioned the authority of the national parliament in Kiev, which had previously decided to release Tymoshenko. MP Vadim Kolesnichenko also accused the US and the EU of organizing the coup.

On Sunday, February 23, parliament appointed Oleksandr Turchynov, who had been elected President of Parliament the day before, as the interim successor to the deposed President Yanukovych. In addition, it removed the previous Foreign Minister Leonid Koschara from his office. Furthermore, on the initiative of the right-wing nationalist party Swoboda, the parliament approved a draft law, which - if finally passed as a law - would invalidate a law from 2012 that previously allowed official multilingualism for regions in which linguistic minorities account for more than ten percent . The interim president Turchynow immediately rejected this legislative proposal with a veto. This language law, which had already been politically instrumentalized before, referred to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , although Russian was never a " regional or minority language that was" gradually disappearing "according to its preamble.

On February 24, the European Commission spokesman said the EU had recognized the decision of the Ukrainian parliament to remove President Yanukovych from office. The EU also recognizes the country's transitional government as legitimate and is in principle still ready to sign the Agreement on Association and Free Trade with Ukraine. Talks about the agreement would only resume after the presidential election and after a new government was established.

Formation of a transitional government and announcement of early presidential elections

On February 26, the “ Maidan Council ”, a coalition of the leading groups of the protest movement, agreed on Arseny Yatsenyuk as a candidate for the post of prime minister of a transitional government and on a number of other candidates for his cabinet. The proposals were submitted to the Ukrainian parliament for approval the following day. Presidential elections were scheduled for May 25th.

In Yatsenyuk's interim government there are five members of his Batkivshina party and three from Svoboda. Klitschko's Udar party is not represented in the government. Oleh Musij ( Health ) and Dmytro Bulatov ( Sport and Youth ) received ministerial posts from the Maidan activists . Andrij Parubij became chairman of the National Security and Defense Council . Dmytro Jarosch ( Right Sector ) was not given a government post; the Maidan Council had designated him as Parubij's deputy.

Features of the protest movement

Public opinion

According to a survey of 2079 citizens of Ukraine carried out by the Research & Branding Group from December 4 to 9, 2013 , 49 percent of those questioned supported the Euromaidan demonstration, 45 percent were against and 6 percent were undecided. According to a survey that was carried out at the end of December 2013, the proportion of Euromaidan opponents had risen to 50 percent and the proportion of supporters had fallen to 45 percent. The Euromaidan movement has different levels of support in the different parts of Ukraine. 84 percent of those questioned in the western part of the country, 66 percent in the center (including Kiev), 33 percent in the south and 13 percent in the eastern part of the country support the protests. In favor of integrating Ukraine into the European Union, 81 percent of those questioned in the west of the country, 56 percent in the center (including Kiev), 30 percent in the south and 18 percent in the east of the country. In favor of joining the customs union with Russia , Belarus and Kazakhstan , 61 percent of citizens in the east, 54 percent in the south, 22 percent in the center (including Kiev) and 7 percent in the west of the country, which is close to the EU.

Attendees

Age of the participants, representation according to Onuch (2015)

Representative polls among protesters, as well as data from interviews, focus groups and documentary data, showed that the average participant in the Maidan protests was 36 to 37 years old. At 59%, men were in a slight majority (especially after the radicalization and escalation of violence in February) and the absolute majority of the participants had higher educational qualifications. Most of the participants were employed, with the professional group of well-qualified specialists being the largest and the number of entrepreneurs having increased significantly by February. Only 18 percent of the protesters came from rural areas, with the urban protesters predominating. Depending on the survey, 69 or 55–59 percent used the Ukrainian language in their professional and / or private life. The demonstrators included a relatively large number of newcomers who had never participated in protests before. Around two thirds of the participants had protests, but less than a quarter were members of civil associations, trade unions and political parties. The quadrupling (from 5 to 22 percent) of participants from November to February who identified themselves as active in NGOs or informal groups is seen as a sign of self-organization. Most of the demonstrators (68%) later joined the protests after November 30th and participated for at least three days. 14% of the participants took part in the first week of the protest. Only one in eight participants came alone; 77% of the protesters came with at least one person, mostly family members or friends.

The majority of the participants under 29 years of age were young people and students who saw themselves as initiators and leaders of the protests. According to their own statements, they demonstrated for freedom and democracy, saw European integration as an important step towards the protection of civil and human rights, and expressed their frustration with the older “post-Soviet” generations. Most of the protesters between the ages of 30 and 39 were educated professionals with families. They felt that the government could not ignore them as easily as the students and that they had a particularly important role as demonstrators. They called for economic security, a better socio-economic future and opportunities to travel to the countries of the EU. After November 30th, they mainly protested against government repression. The group of participants older than 50 stated that they had less to lose than the younger ones and that they had more experience and time with them. They demonstrated for democracy and for a better future for their grandchildren and future generations.

Although the majority of the protesters were apolitical, non-activist citizens of all socio-economic and educational backgrounds, the media has focused on marginal, radical groups among the protesters. Max Blumenthal wrote for AlterNet in February 2014 that fascist and Nazi symbols and slogans were displayed during the Euromaidan protests. The parties Swoboda and Right Sector are responsible for this. According to Zeit-Online in March 2014, right-wing activists were involved in violent clashes with the police on the Maidan. They wore black ski masks, bulletproof vests, and military clothing. Alexander Rahr , Eastern European historian and research director of the German-Russian Forum , said in March 2014 that "it is indeed the case that the West here, believing it was a democratic revolution, clearly backed the opposition" from which the Svoboda party also benefited thanks to its leading role in the protests. According to Anton Shekhovtsov from University College London and Andreas Umland, politicians, journalists and Western lobbyists exaggerate the role of radical groups in the Maidan protests. The two right-wing extremist parties Swoboda and Right Sector came in April 2014 to 3.5 percent and 1.8 percent of the vote and were thus well below the five percent hurdle. The aim of the exaggerations is "to discredit the European revolution in Ukraine as a - at least partially - 'fascist' enterprise and thus to justify the Russian annexation of Crimea and the covert invasion of Donbass as an 'anti-fascist' measure to protect allegedly threatened Russian speakers . "

Demands of the opposition parties

Vitali Klitschko , Oleh Tjahnybok and Arsenij Jazenjuk (from left to right, December 2013)

Since the beginning of the protests in Ukraine in 2013, the All-Ukrainian Association "Fatherland", together with the right - wing extremist All - Ukrainian Association "Swoboda" of Oleh Tjahnybok and the UDAR party of professional boxer Vitali Klitschko, formed an oppositional three-party alliance that wanted to achieve the resignation of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych .

Vitali Klitschko, boxer and chairman of the UDAR, said the goal was the overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovych and “a complete change of government in Ukraine. Today all of Ukraine stood up against the government and we will stand until the end. "

Character of the demonstrations, perception in the media and first reactions

The public perception compared the mass rallies with the Orange Revolution . In contrast to the Orange Revolution, which was mainly initiated by activists and the political and economic elite, the participants in the Maidan protests were predominantly apolitical Ukrainians from all economic, social and educational backgrounds. In Kiev, a large number of demonstrators gathered in central squares - some demonstrated for the government, others against. While the media reported primarily on demonstrators critical of the government who demanded a rapid rapprochement with the EU and thus a turn away from the pro-Russia policy led by Yanukovych, non-party demonstrators received little attention. Their goal is to set an example "because they no longer want to live in a corrupt country without justice", as Vitali Klitschko called out to the assembled crowd.

Ukrainian President Yanukovych tried to calm the heated situation and promised to do everything in his power to move closer to the EU. He also criticized the brutal behavior of the police.

Statements from representatives of Jewish communities in Ukraine

Pinchas Goldschmidt, President of the European Rabbinical Conference, said in January that tolerance of anti-Semitic statements by both the Ukrainian government and the opposition left anti-Semites a free hand; On February 21, 2014, a rabbi of the Jewish community in Kiev, Moshe Reuven Azman, called on its members to leave Kiev or Ukraine because of warnings about intentions to attack Jewish institutions. He also stated that in February the Israeli embassy reportedly called on members of the Jewish community not to leave their homes for security reasons.

The President of the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress, Vadym Rabinovych , stated on February 26, 2014 that allegations of serious cases of anti-Semitism in Ukraine were unfounded. The Jewish community wants to participate in the construction of a democratic state and put itself at the service of the country. Wadym Rabinowytsch himself won more votes in the presidential elections on May 25th than the two candidates from the right-wing Svoboda party and the right wing group “Right Sector” combined.

Representatives of right-wing extremist organizations also distanced themselves from anti-Semitism. Both Tjahnybok and the leader of the “Right Sector”, Dmytro Jarosch, conspicuously sought the proximity of Israeli diplomats. Jarosch declared that he would not only not tolerate anti-Semitism and xenophobia, but would fight them with all legal means.

The chief rabbi of the Jewish community of Dnipropetrovsk, Shmuel Kaminezki, declared in connection with the appointment of Ihor Kolomoyskyi as governor of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast on March 2, 2014, that the new Ukrainian leadership was "not fascist, but patriotic". There is no evidence that anti-Semitism has increased in Ukraine since Yanukovych was ousted, and unlike Russia, anti-Semitism in Ukraine has no support or encouragement from the state. Ukraine is a safe country for the Jews. The chairman of the Association of Jewish Congregations and Organizations in Ukraine and deputy chairman of the World Jewish Congress, Josef Zissels, said in the Bundestag Human Rights Committee on March 19, 2014 that Jews in Ukraine are not exposed to any danger from fascist or anti-Semitic forces. There were also no anti-Semitic riots during the protests on the Maidan. Reports of such incidents are rather Russian provocations that wanted to drive a wedge into Ukrainian society. According to Die Welt, there is no evidence that anti-Jewish acts have increased in Ukraine, as "Russian propaganda likes to suggest". Representatives of the Jewish communities rejected the Russian propaganda in an open letter to Putin and called on him to stop the "randomly chosen lies and insults": "We live in a democratic country and can afford differences of opinion", if not the stability of the Ukraine would be attacked; attacked "by the Russian government, in particular by you personally."

Michael Kapustin, the rabbi in Simferopol , fled from the Crimea to Kiev after speaking out against Russian troops in the Crimea and smearing his synagogue with anti-Semitic slogans. The Russian state broadcaster Russia Today reported as if Kapustin was fleeing not from Crimea and the government installed by Russia in Crimea, but from Ukraine because the new Ukrainian government in Kiev was anti-Semitic. In May 2014, the European Jewish Association denied the existence of a letter from chairman Menachem Margolin to Jean-Claude Juncker, which was mainly circulating in the Russian media. In the deception, written in poor English, Margolin allegedly complained about the rise in anti-Semitism in Ukraine since the Maidan protests.

Informal and violent groups

Prawyj Sector, Kiev, February 18, 2014

In the course of the protests and their increasingly violent character, there were increasing differences in the demeanor and demands of the leaders of the opposition parties Klitschko, Yazenjuk and Tjahnybok, on the one hand, and the increasingly paramilitary groups of the demonstrators represented on the Maidan After the government-opposition agreement was signed on February 21, 2014, various spokesmen for these groups stated that they would not be ready to evacuate the Maidan until their demand for the immediate resignation of President Yanukovych was met. In this context, the spokesman for the right-wing extremist group Pravyj Sector spoke of the fact that the “National Revolution” in Ukraine was continuing.

Maidan demonstrators and journalists were attacked by Titushki , up to several hundred strong gangs of thugs in civilian clothes, allegedly from the area of ​​organized crime - from February also with firearms. In January, demonstrations by Titushki in central Ukraine were brutally broken up under the eyes of the security forces. Who organized and paid for the Tituschki was initially unknown, Andreas Kappeler called it “paid by the government”. Maidan activists were persecuted, beaten up, abducted in individual cases, tortured and, in the case of Jurij Verbickij, murdered.

Entrance to the Olympic Stadium with the remains of the “Euromaidan” barricades in May 2014

This was followed by violent attacks, intimidation and arbitrariness, with significant participation by senior members of the Prawyj sector. For example, on February 24, Oleksandr Musytschko appeared in the regional parliament of Rivne Oblast with an assault rifle and ordered that the families of demonstrators be given preferential housing. Three days later, according to Komsomolskaya Pravda, in the same oblast, in the presence of media representatives , he harassed and beat a public prosecutor . Incidents are also documented in which elected representatives of the Party of Regions and the Communist Party of Ukraine in city and regional parliaments were put under pressure with guns in hand. Some were also beaten up. Several offices of the Communist Party have been occupied or devastated by militant groups. Against this background, parts of the Ukrainian opposition should be classified as “ fascist ”, “ violent ” or “ right-wing extremist ”.

On the evening of March 18, 2014, a group of Ukrainian members of parliament and supporters of the Svoboda party, led by Ihor Miroshnychenko , broke into the office of Olexander Pantelejmonov, the head of the Natsionalna Telekompanija Ukrainy TV station, in Kiev and forced him with threats and beatings to sign a notice of termination. They accused Pantelejmonov of no longer having the right to run the station because his reporting served "Putin and Russian propaganda". On the same day, the broadcaster showed excerpts from a speech by Russian President Putin in which he had expressly welcomed the result of the referendum on the status of Crimea and the annexation of Crimea to Russia. The Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenjuk distanced himself from the behavior of the MPs and described the process as “unacceptable”, but one week later the government named Zurab Alassania as the new head of the station.

Deaths

Corpses in the lobby of the Hotel Ukrajina, which has been converted into a makeshift hospital (February 20, 2014)

As the conflict escalated from February 18, 2014, over 100 people were killed, including at least 16 police officers and 4 other security guards. Furthermore, around 300 people had been injured by February 21.

An additional 18 people died afterwards, some of them from injuries from those days. The dead are called the Heavenly Hundred in Ukraine . The oldest participant to succumb to his injuries on March 8 was an 83-year-old naval officer. As the reason for his almost daily presence from November 30th to February 19th, he cited his military oath that he had taken to protect the people. The average age of the participants killed was 42 years.

Controversy over the use of snipers

Precision rifles in use by government snipers

In 2009, the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) approved the Swiss arms manufacturer Brügger & Thomet for the “transfer of know-how for the manufacture of small arms to a Ukrainian company ”, as a SECO spokeswoman confirmed. In addition, individual parts for the production of around 30 to 50 sniper rifles Brügger & Thomet APR went to Ukraine. The rifles were “acquired to protect the 2012 European Championships; they were used against the Ukrainian people. “ Yanukovych used the Euro 2012 specifically to upgrade the security forces, ” added Ukraine expert Ievgen Vorobiov.

Conjectures about the origin of the snipers on the Maidan

Olha Bohomolez (left) in conversation with Urmas Paet (right). The picture was taken on February 25, 2014 and published by the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

One thesis says that there were also snipers who shot both police officers and demonstrators. The day after Russian President Putin said the snipers might have been provocateurs of the opposition, Russian state television broadcast a conversation tapped by Russia in support of this thesis. Urmas Paet , who was involved in the phone call, denied having made an assessment himself, rather he had pointed out the danger of such rumors having a life of their own. The doctor Olha Bohomolez mentioned in the call had no access to victims among the police and, according to her own statements, could not say anything about the same injuries suffered by police officers and demonstrators - in contrast to the statement that Russia had propagated.

On April 10, the WDR magazine Monitor reported that shots were fired at demonstrators at least not only by the snipers used by Yanukovych, but also by other snipers who may have belonged to the opposition camp at the time. Government opponents and paramedics spoke of 60 to 70 dead on February 20, 2014 alone.

The MP Inna Bohoslowska from the Party of Regions, on the other hand, spoke of a provocation on February 20, 2014 and said that the Russian secret service FSB could be behind it, as Andrej Piontkowski spoke of the “handwriting of professionals”, more precisely of Russian special forces. The co-founder of the National Socialist Party (later Svoboda ) Andrij Parubij, who was often called the “Maidan Commander”, was convinced that there were no special units of the President in action, but a third party: “There was an interest in the situation Let the Maidan escalate. I believe that was part of the Russian plan to invade Crimea. ”In March 2014, the Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov named this“ third force ”as“ not Ukrainian ”. This opinion, that Russia had stood behind the snipers, was also shared by President Poroshenko a year after the events.

In October 2014, the Canadian-Ukrainian political scientist Ivan Katchanovski from the University of Ottawa, after studying public sources (video recordings from television and the Internet as well as photos, reports from journalists, radio communications between the emergency services, statements by officials and militia members, reports on ammunition and weapons, Medical reports) concluded that opposition forces also used snipers. Accordingly, in his opinion, not only the police but also demonstrators were targeted. A summary, "The Maidan Massacre in Ukraine: A Summary of Analysis, Evidence, and Findings" appeared in 2016 in The Return of the Cold War: Ukraine, the West and Russia . A video attachment was made available on YouTube. The study was criticized as unscientific, so it had no theory and no analysis, according to Bohdan Harasymiw. Volodymyr Ishchenko, who analyzes Ukraine from a left-wing perspective, described it as an important study if it were proven that the government would have come to power as a result of such shots. Alexander Sich found that other people besides David Marples had only spoken ad hominem against Katchanovski. David Marples, in turn, wrote that the study, which was also politically driven, was received "coolly". The study is not academic, because it has not been published and has no cross-appraisal , and it is a chaotic list even of references to the Second World War without any connection. The conclusion is a jumble of illogical statements.

Civilian and elaborate documentation representing 3 dead (Ihor Dmytriv, Andriy Dyhdalovych, Yuriy Parashchuk) revealed positions of Berkut officials for the firing of shots. According to the investigators, the Russian military intelligence service GRU was significantly involved in the immediate disinformation campaign after the shooting.

Arrests

On March 3, 2014, the attorney general's office announced that twelve members of the “ Black Unit ”, a special force within the Berkut, had been arrested. They are accused of multiple murders.

Ukraine is bringing terrorism and murder charges against 26 members of the Berkut. In April 2017, four former police officers who had been arrested in Kharkiv in the summer of 2016 stormed into Russia. Of the 26 men charged with the murder of 48 protesters, over 20 are in Russia (as of May 2017). Some of the accused Berkut police officers have now acquired Russian citizenship and work for the Russian police unit OMON . A former Berkut commander, Sergei Kuzyuk, who ordered the first violent crackdown on the Euromaidan protests in Kiev on November 30, 2013, was filmed during anti-corruption protests in Moscow in June 2017. how he leads a group of OMON police officers. The pre-trial detention of five remaining defendants was extended in early April 2017.

International reactions

The sometimes violent use of the security forces was heavily criticized internationally. Catherine Ashton , EU Foreign Affairs Representative, who was in Kiev on December 9, 2013, described the operation as "excessive" and "unjustified". As a result, the EU called for an investigation into what happened.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen called on the parties to the conflict to refrain from violence. In an appeal to the government, he called on them to guarantee freedom of expression and assembly. The Foreign Ministers of Poland and Sweden , Radosław Sikorski and Carl Bildt , issued a statement expressing their solidarity with the demonstrators.

Reaction of the German government

Federal Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle , who was in Kiev on December 7, 2013, called on Ukraine to “ guarantee freedom of assembly and to protect peaceful protesters from any form of intimidation and violence. “On February 18, 2014, Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier condemned the violent riots by both government forces and opposition supporters. He also indicated that the EU is rethinking the issue of imposing sanctions. On February 19, 2014, the EU Commission and the EU Parliament demanded sanctions against the leadership of Ukraine due to the violence used by government forces. Members of the Left Party criticized the German government's one-sided partisanship of the Ukrainian opposition and spoke of the downsizing of “fascists” with a view to the right-wing extremist Svoboda party.

Chancellor Angela Merkel wanted to strengthen the Ukrainian opposition politician Vitali Klitschko Ukrainian democratic alliance for reforms through joint appearances. Merkel decided that together with the European Association of Conservative Parties ( EPP ), reported Der Spiegel . He appealed to circles of the federal government and the EPP. The aim is to "make Klitschko the opposition leader and opponent of President Viktor Yanukovych ". According to the report, it was planned to invite Klitschko to the next meeting of EPP heads of state and government in Brussels in mid-December 2013. There should be a joint appearance for the public. Der Spiegel explained the relationship between the CDU and Klitschko, his party was already receiving logistical support from the EPP and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation . Among other things, Udar parliamentarians and their employees have been trained. Merkel's adviser Christoph Heusgen , Ronald Pofalla and Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle had previously spoken to Klitschko about possible support. Elmar Brok from the EPP performed on the Maidan on Saturday, where he urged the Ukrainian leadership to take a pro-European course.

US Government Response

The US was also outraged. A US State Department spokeswoman said "Violence and intimidation should have no place in Ukraine today." On December 14, 2013, US Senator John McCain spoke on location and supported the demands of the opposition parties in his speech. On February 20, 2014 , US President Barack Obama imposed an entry ban on 20 cabinet members and officials in Ukraine - without naming them - on charges of violating human rights in connection with political repression in Ukraine . Obama declared that everyone in the “chain of command” who ordered the storming of the protest camp on Kiev's Independence Square was affected . A diplomat on behalf of the US government specified that the entry bans are aimed at police officers and not against military personnel, as the military was not involved in the riots .

Response from the Swiss government

The Swiss government has blocked bank accounts that are suspected of having foreign funds from Viktor Yanukovych and other people. At the same time, the Geneva public prosecutor opened criminal proceedings against Yanukovych and his son Oleksandr on suspicion of serious money laundering . On February 27, 2014, the son's company in Geneva was searched, the agency said. The government ordered the accounts to be blocked and by ordinance made any act a criminal offense that makes it impossible to manage or use assets allegedly acquired through corruption. Among the 20 names on the list published by the Swiss Federal Council on February 28, 2014 are former ministers of the overthrown government, the former head of government Nikolai Azarov, the former minister of finance, Yuri Kolobow, and justice, Olena Lukasch, and the former prosecutor general Viktor Pschonka . Banks in Switzerland that manage the funds of these persons are obliged to report them to the Directorate for International Law in the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) . According to the ministry spokesman, the government in Bern took these measures of its own accord; the interim government in Kiev has not yet asked for it. The pictures of Swiss-made sniper rifles on the Maidan (procured for security during Euro 2012 ) did not affect the National Council's vote on March 6, 2014 to relax the War Material Ordinance.

Russian government reaction

At the beginning of the protests in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that they were “well prepared from abroad” and that they were apparently only planned for the 2015 winter election. The protests reminded him less of a revolution than of riots. In his opinion, the protests against a legitimate government had little to do with democracy or with relations between Ukraine and the EU, since most of the demonstrators were unaware of the demands and discriminatory regulations contained in the 1,000-page agreement of the Ukraine should be imposed. Instead, it is primarily about domestic power struggles.

After the change of power in Ukraine in February 2014, Russia questioned the legitimacy of the country's new leadership. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev spoke of a “real danger to Russian interests” and to “the life and health of our compatriots”. Moscow also attacked the West sharply. The EU states and the USA are only active in Ukraine on their own geopolitical basis, the fate of the country is subordinate to them, said the Russian Foreign Ministry. It also called for constitutional reforms in Ukraine to be put to the vote in a referendum.

Expression of the "silent protest" - A pianist on the market square in Lviv

→ Main article : Crimean crisis

On February 26, 2014, Putin had parts of the Russian armed forces in western Russia put on a training alert to have their combat readiness checked, it was said. On March 1, the Russian President asked the Federation Council for permission to use Russian forces in Ukraine. Given the "extraordinary situation", this was necessary to protect Russian citizens and the armed forces stationed in Crimea "until the situation had normalized". The Federation Council authorized Putin to deploy troops on the same day.

Foreign influence on the protest movement

The extent to which the protest movement was promoted and supported by Western governments is the subject of ongoing controversy: Both the Russian side and the Yanukovych government claim that the Maidan protest was deliberately controlled by the EU and NATO along the lines of the so-called color revolutions , to influence the internal political situation of Ukraine. The resulting change of government in February 2014 was a coup d'état brought about by foreign powers with the help of local, right-wing extremist and ultra-nationalist groups; According to Putin, the transfer of power in Ukraine was “an armed coup and an unconstitutional coup”. This view of what happened has repeatedly been called propaganda by Western media.

Financial and logistical support for oppositional groups

Speech by US Senator John McCain on the Maidan on December 15, 2013: “America Stands with You!” (America is on your side)

Opposition movements and organizations that played an active role in the protest movement on the Maidan were supported in advance via non-governmental foundations, parties and foundations affiliated with the party, as well as non-governmental organizations . UDAR, Vitali Klitschko's party, had contact with the CDU-affiliated Konrad Adenauer Foundation . In an interview with CNN on May 25, 2014, George Soros said : “I set up a foundation in Ukraine even before it became independent. It has worked since then and has played a major role in current events, “and that there is strong anti-Semitism and atrocities against Jews and Roma in the Russian-dominated eastern part of Ukraine.

The private television broadcaster Espreso TV , which was founded with the start of Euromaidan in November 2013 and reported live from the Maidan as part of the protest movement, was financed with foreign funds , according to the Junge Welt .

Via the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington DC in 2012, $ 3.5 million was directed to almost 60 different institutions in Ukraine. In February, Victoria Nuland met with both Tjanhybok and Arseniy Yazenjuk, who was later elected as the new interim Prime Minister of Ukraine. In a telephone conversation with Ambassador Pyatt , which Russia made public on February 4, 2014 , Nuland stated that she preferred Yazenjuk Klitschko.

After the riots

Media coverage

Russian state media have been intensifying their activities in Ukraine since November 2013 in order to gain the support of the Russian-born people of Ukraine for actions against Ukraine. This included calling the protesters right-wing extremists or fascists. Slavists and extremism researchers from different countries criticized the fact that in many reports and commentaries the role, importance and influence of right-wing forces on the Euromaidan was overestimated or misinterpreted. It is undisputed that right-wing and left-wing extremists were among the protesters, but the "strong emphasis on the participation of right-wing extremist groups in the protests in some international media reports [...] is unjustified and misleading." In Russian media reports, the excessive emphasis on right-wing demonstrators is used discrediting the Euromaidan movement and as a pretext for political or military intervention by Russia.

An investigation into Russian coverage of the Euromaidan showed that Russian television ( NTW , Pervy kanal , Rossija 24 ) and newspapers ( Rossiyskaya Gazeta , Komsomolskaya Pravda ) support the Kremlin's official position. Euromaidan protesters were described in the Russian media investigated as armed "radicals", "fighters" and "extremists". The Berkut police, on the other hand, were portrayed as "unarmed" and as the only way to prevent a "civil war". The coverage focused on police victims who defended themselves against an armed "brutal mob of drunks and drug addicts". NTW did show scenes of police officers with firearms, but the broadcaster claimed that the protesters took the police officers hostage and put on their uniforms. The protests have been portrayed in the newspapers as a direct threat to Russia. The United States is responsible for the protests and the European Union supports the "criminals," according to the newspapers. Other claims by Russian media were that Ukraine's borders were "artificial" and that Ukraine was a failed state , a view that President Putin had been holding since at least 2008.

Reporting in German-speaking countries

On April 15, 2014, Hanno Gundert from the Network for Eastern Europe Reporting told Deutsche Welle that initially hardly any journalist had left the Maidan to get a more comprehensive picture of the situation in the country. In Hotel Ukrajina right on the square is a kind of "press center of the opposition" had been established. The entire reporting is characterized by black and white positions - in one direction as in the other. Gundert signed the countercall to the Appell_für_eine_andere_Russlandpolitik , which complained about the misinformation of the "Kremlin spokesmen" in German television discussions about Ukraine. Simon Weiß, political scientist at Heidelberg University, said of the reporting during the first phase of the protests: “It was seen as a civil society protest against a bad ruler. Here the West, there the dark ruler and the dark Russia - progress against corruption. ”The German media, like the federal government, were initially one-sided and unbalanced, according to Weiß. In the meantime, Ukrainians were amazed and at first wondered astonished and finally angry: Where did the questions about fascists in the streets come from? Sonja Margolina from the Network for Eastern Europe Reporting said that even in June 2014, Russians were by no means viewed by Ukrainians themselves as enemies, but rather as "zombies contaminated by Kremlin propaganda".

After viewing ARD broadcasts from November 2013 to February 2014, the media magazine Zapp of Norddeutscher Rundfunk came to the conclusion that "almost 80 percent of the interviewees [were] government opponents." An empirical study of who was on German talk shows on public broadcasters ARD, ZDF and Phoenix were invited to the topic, however, showed that twice as many Russian as Ukrainian citizens were present and that Ukrainians were much less likely to get a vote than Russians. Ukraine did not have an advocate in a third of the programs. 38% of the invited guests were journalists, among them a disproportionately large number of Russians from state-controlled media. Among the guests, those in favor of a policy of détente against Russia outnumbered those in favor of a policy of containment. There could be no talk of hostility towards Russia on German talk shows. According to the linguist Anja Lange, there was a lack of German journalists who speak Ukrainian and have in-depth knowledge of Ukrainian history and culture. The Eastern European headquarters of many television stations and newspapers are in Moscow, not Kiev. In the German reporting on the Maidan protests, there were above all many Russia experts who tried to explain the conflict from a Russian perspective.

A protocol summary of the ARD's program advisory board published by telepolis unanimously stated that ARD's reporting on the Ukraine conflict in the period from December 2013 to June 2014 had in part conveyed the “impression of bias” and was “tended to target Russia and the Russian positions” . Ten points are mentioned in the protocol, including the focus on the person of Putin, the lack of explanation of the participation of right-wing nationalist forces and the strategies of the West and the lack of analysis of the association agreement, and therefore a general lack of background information. The advisory board itself wrote about this publication that it was “important to point out that the résumé is a shortened summary” and that “its observation of Ukraine reporting is more nuanced than it was presented in public, in which it was sometimes very different The editor-in-chief of ARD, Thomas Baumann , rejected the criticism of the program advisory board “energetically”.

The journalist Franziska Davies pointed out in an article: “The German discourse on Ukraine has another dimension, because it is not always actually about Ukraine. Rather, it seems to some commentators that it is now more important to position themselves as a supposed critical minority vis-à-vis the media »mainstream« ”() That Russian propaganda , which learned from the CIA's propaganda during the Cold War, about the Ukraine with“ left-wing opponents of globalization as well as with right-wing muddleheads and conspiracy theory friends "was well received, explained Robert Misik clearly with their tendency to look for" truths "only outside the so-called mainstream media. The revolution is colorful, but Russia scatters that it is brown. "Would not it so funny 'bout really funny: For example, that fascists . As, insult other people fascists'" "Who on page of kleptocracy and aggression is the most basic knowledge of history has not understood".

Movie

• 2015: Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom , Oscar nominated documentary by Evgeny Afineevsky
• Composed. The gunmen from Maidan Square in Kiev. Video in: Spiegel TV Magazin from March 20, 2016 (12 minutes).

literature

• Yuri Andruchowytsch (Ed.): Euromaidan: What is at stake in Ukraine. Berlin 2014.
• Roman Danyluk: KIEV INDEPENDENCE PLACE - Course and background of the movement on the Maidan. Edition AV, Lich 2014, ISBN 978-3-86841-106-5 .
• Claudia Dathe (Ed.): MAJDAN! Ukraine, Europe. Berlin 2014
• Simon Geissbühler (Ed.): Kiev - Revolution 3.0. The Euromaidan 2013/14 and the future prospects of Ukraine. Stuttgart 2014.
• David R. Marples, Frederick V. Mills: Ukraine's Euromaidan: Analyzes of a Civil Revolution. Columbia University Press, 2014.
• Manfred Sapper et al. (Ed.): Zerreißprobe. Ukraine: conflict, crisis, war. In: Eastern Europe . 64, 2014.
• Konrad Schuller : Ukraine. Chronicle of a Revolution. Edition.fotoTAPETA, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-940524-29-4 .
• Marian Madela: The Reform Process in Ukraine 2014–2017 , ibidem, Stuttgart 2018, ISBN 978-3-8382-1266-1 .

Web links

Commons : Euromaidan  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Protests in Ukraine on the information portal on political education
• Agreement on the Settlement of Crisis in Ukraine , the agreement signed on February 21, 2014 (website of the Foreign Office , English)
• Government declaration Angela Merkel dated November 18, 2013

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} EuroMaidan rallies in Ukraine - Nov. 21–23 coverage. In: Kyiv Post . November 25, 2013.
2. ↑ Ukraine protest: EU deplores 'Russian pressure'. In: BBC News. November 25, 2013. Retrieved November 26, 2013 . 
3. ↑ One minister's dark warning and the ray of hope. In: Kyiv Post. Retrieved November 27, 2013 . 
4. ^ ^{A b} Brian Bonner: Two petition drives take aim at Yanukovych. In: Kyiv Post. November 21, 2013, accessed November 27, 2013 . 
5. ↑ ^{a b} Ukrainian opposition calls for President Yanukovych's impeachment. In: Kyiv Post. November 21, 2013, accessed November 27, 2013 . 
6. ↑ ^{a b} David M. Herszenhorn: Thousands of protesters in Ukraine Demand Leader's resignation. In: New York Times. December 1, 2013, accessed December 2, 2013 . 
7. ^ Groups at the sharp end of Ukraine unrest , BBC on February 1, 2014
8. ↑ Luzia Tschirky: Ukrainian protest movement infiltrated from the right , SRF on February 5, 2014
9. ↑ . Were 15 policemen During the storm on Bankowa Str injured (ПІД ЧАС ШТУРМУ БАНКОВОЇ ПОСТРАЖДАЛИ ВЖЕ 15 ПРАВООХОРОНЦІВ) ( Memento of December 17, 2014 Internet Archive ). TVi. December 1st, 2013.
10. ↑ ^{a b} Back to the Middle Ages on the way to Europe: Beaten Kyiv protesters take refuge in ancient church yard. Kyivpost.com, accessed December 1, 2013 . 
11. ↑ Ukraine's capital Kiev gripped by huge pro-EU demonstration. In: BBC News . December 8, 2013, accessed December 8, 2013 . 
12. ↑ Timothy Snyder : Ukraine: The Haze of Propaganda , The New York Review Of Books, March 1, 2014; "It was a classic popular revolution"
13. ↑ Protests continue in Kyiv ahead of Vilnius EU summit , Euronews , November 27, 2013
14. ↑ In Ukraine, Protests Highlight 'Generational Rift' , Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, November 27, 2013
15. ↑ ^{a b} Birth of a nation. In: KyivPost . December 11, 2013, accessed December 11, 2013 . 
16. ↑ «You have to stay until the end». Basler Zeitung , February 23, 2014, accessed on February 23, 2014 . 
17. ^ Claudia Ehrenstein, Sascha Lehnartz, Florian Kellermann: Ukraine: The diplomatic coup of Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Die Welt , February 22, 2014, accessed on February 23, 2014 . 
18. ↑ ^{a b} Florian Kellermann: When he escaped, Yanukovych even forgot his glasses. Die Welt , February 25, 2014, accessed May 25, 2014 . 
19. ↑ Editor: Parliamentary session in Kiev; Prime Minister Azarov resigns. Süddeutsche Zeitung , January 28, 2014, accessed October 20, 2014 . 
20. ↑ ^{a b} Ukraine’s Euromaidan: What's in a name? (No longer available online.) In: Washington Post . December 2, 2013, archived from the original on December 2, 2013 ; Retrieved December 2, 2013 . 
21. ↑ Євромайдан. Twitter, November 21, 2013, accessed December 10, 2013 . 
22. ↑ Vitalii Chervonenko: Ukraine's EU options 'still open'. In: BBC News . November 25, 2013, accessed December 2, 2013 . 
23. ↑ The street survey was conducted by the Gorshenin Institute on December 2, 2013 among participants in the protest held at Kiev's Independence Square. ( Memento from August 10, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
24. ↑ Stefan Korinth: Maidan: The transfigured uprising ( Memento of August 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) - Telepolis, August 9, 2014
25. ↑ [1]
26. ↑ [2]
27. ↑ Country Analysis Ukraine NR. 127 of February 11, 2014 , published by the Research Center for Eastern Europe at the University of Bremen and the German Society for Eastern European Studies
28. ↑ Kataryna Wolczuk and Roman Wolczuk: What you need to know about the causes of the Ukrainian protests - WP, December 9, 2013. In addition to this meeting, Professor David Marples names two other events: "Ukraine's choices" - openDemocracy, December 9, 2013
29. ^ Negotiations with Putin: "Obama and Merkel have to go to Moscow" , Spiegel Online, September 3, 2014
30. ↑ Cold, unscrupulous - successful ?: With power and blackmail, President Putin has brought Ukraine back into Moscow's sphere of influence. , Spiegel 51/2013 of December 16, 2013 ( PDF )
31. ↑ Russia has carrots too ( Memento of November 27, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), Cafebabel, September 4, 2013
32. ↑ Russia, the Eurasian Customs Union and the EU: Cooperation, Stagnation or Rivalry? , Chatham House , August 2012
33. ↑ Ukraine, under pressure from Russia, puts brakes on EU deal. Published: November 21 @ washingtonpost.com (accessed September 18, 2014)
34. ↑ Putin's new Russia - Europe on the brink of war? ( Memento from September 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) ZDF, September 4, 2014
35. ↑ Aleksander-Marek Sadowski: What Putin is planning to do with Ukraine , Die Zeit, February 17, 2014; "Only in this context does Russia's bitter political struggle over Ukraine become understandable."
36. ↑ Marc Bennetts: "Why nothing will dent Vladimir Putin's soaring popularity at home" - The Guardian, July 31, 2014
37. ^ Andreas Kappeler: Brief history of the Ukraine. CH Beck, Munich 2014, page 335
38. ↑ Putin is said to have agreed to Ukraine joining the EU , Handelsblatt, December 21, 2014
39. ↑ John Mearsheimer : [3] , Foreign Affairs , Sept / Oct 2014 edition; "The taproot of the trouble is NATO enlargement, the central element of a larger strategy to move Ukraine out of Russia's orbit and integrate it into the West."
40. ^ Andreas Kappeler: Brief history of the Ukraine. Beck, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-406-67019-0 , p. 337.
41. ↑ [4]
42. ↑ [5]
43. ↑ Interview with Ukrainian presidential candidate Petro Poroshenko , April 25, 2014, accessed April 29, 2016
44. ↑ Ukraine vs Russia: A mafia state's cover-up? In: Al Jazeera. May 13, 2014, accessed May 30, 2014.
45. ↑ ^{a b} Steffen Dobbert: Seven misconceptions about the revolution in Kiev. In: time online. January 30, 2014.
46. ↑ Tymoshenko demands a recount. In: Focus . February 9, 2010, accessed April 21, 2014 . 
47. ↑ OSCE report: Observers denounce violations in Ukraine elections. In: Spiegel Online . October 29, 2012, accessed April 21, 2014 . 
48. ↑ [6]
49. ↑ [7]
50. ↑ European Neighborhood Watch Issue 80 ( Memento of September 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), Center for European Policy (March 2012)
51. ↑ Ukraine's jailed Tymoshenko calls off hunger strike , Kyiv Post (November 16, 2012)
52. ↑ EU leaders: Ratification of Association Agreement and DCFTA depends on settlement of Tymoshenko-Lutsenko issue , Kyiv Post (July 20, 2012)
53. ↑ Ukraine's Lutsenko jailed for 4 years (updated) , Kyiv Post (February 27, 2012)
54. ↑ The opposition initiates the all-Ukrainian action "Ukraine, stand up!" ( Memento from May 21, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
55. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from September 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
56. ↑ Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych pardons Yulia Tymoshenko allies , BBC News (April 8, 2013)
    Ukrainian leader Yanukovych pardons Tymoshenko ally , BBC News (April 7, 2013)
57. ↑ Putin's “Trade War” against Kiev , Die Presse, August 20, 2013
58. ↑ EU Commissioner Fule expects Rada to pass European integration bills on November 21 , Interfax-Ukraine, November 20, 2013
59. ↑ Ukrainian president asks for laws to be passed to facilitate EU association agreement , Euronews , September 3, 2013
60. ↑ EU-Ukraine Association Agreement to be signed, Ukraine to go to Europe - speaker ( Memento from September 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), Interfax-Ukraine, September 25, 2013
61. ↑ ^{a b} [8]
62. ↑ [9]
63. ^ Andreas Kappeler: Brief history of the Ukraine. CH Beck, Munich 2014, page 337
64. ↑ Ukraine drops EU plans and looks to Russia. aljazeera.com , accessed November 21, 2013 . Ukrainian government issues decree to suspend preparations for signing of association agreement with EU , Interfax-Ukraine, November 21, 2013 Rada votes down all bills on allowing Tymoshenko's medical treatment abroad , Interfax-Ukraine, November 21, 2013 
    
    
65. ^ Cox-Kwasniewski mission to continue until Eastern Partnership Summit , Interfax-Ukraine, November 21, 2013
66. ↑ Ukraine to resume preparing agreement with EU when compensation for production drop found - Boiko , Interfax-Ukraine, November 21, 2013
67. ↑ David M. Herszenhorn: Ukraine Blames IMF for Halt to Agreements With Europe. In: New York Times. November 22, 2013, accessed December 10, 2013 . 
68. ↑ Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: Historic defeat for EU as Ukraine returns to Kremlin control. In: Daily Telegraph. November 22, 2013, accessed December 10, 2013 . 
69. ↑ MF not insisting on single-stage increase in tariffs, says resident representative in Ukraine , Interfax-Ukraine, December 7, 2013
70. ↑ IMF links loan amount to Ukraine with reforms ( Memento from January 25, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), Ukrinform , December 7, 2013.
71. ↑ Ukraine to resume talks with IMF soon, says Yanukovych , Interfax-Ukraine, December 10, 2013
72. ↑ Barroso: EU to continue its dialog with Ukraine on principles of mutual respect, transparency and responsibility , Interfax-Ukraine, November 29, 2013
73. ↑ EU and Ukraine say 'door still open' for future trade pact , Euronews (November 29, 2013)
74. ↑ Yanukovych says Ukraine-EU deal is suspended, not canceled , Euronews , November 29, 2013
75. ↑ Противники приостановки евроинтеграции Украины в ночи вышли на улицы Киева ( Eng . Opponents of the suspension of European integration of Ukraine took to the streets in Kiev at night. On: NEWSru.com , November 22, 2013.
76. ↑ How Ukrainian protestors are using Twitter and Facebook. BBC News, December 4, 2013, accessed December 12, 2013 . 
77. ↑ ^{a b} Sergii Leshchenko: The Media's Role . In: Journal of Democracy . 25, No. 9, July 2014, pp. 52-57. doi: 10.1353 / iod.2014.0048
78. ↑ Oleh Kotsyuba: Ukraine's Battle for Europe . In: The New York Times , November 29, 2013.
79. ^ Uprising in Ukraine: How It All Began . In: Open Society Foundation , April 4, 2014.
80. ↑ Ukraine Opposition Protests Europe U-Turn. In: The Moscow Times. November 22, 2013. Retrieved November 24, 2013 . 
81. ↑ Ukrainians rally over government's snub to EU. In: BBC News . November 22, 2013. Retrieved November 24, 2013 . 
82. ↑ Oleg Sukhov: Ukrainian Protests Compared to 2004 Orange Revolution. In: The Moscow Times. November 25, 2013. Retrieved November 26, 2013 . 
83. ↑ The real Europeans live in the east of the continent. In: The world . November 30, 2013, accessed December 12, 2013 . 
84. ↑ Mass rallies in Ukraine against government U-turn on EU. In: Reuters . November 24, 2013. Retrieved November 24, 2013 . 
85. ↑ Ukraine police clash with pro-EU protesters. In: Al Jazeera . November 24, 2013. Retrieved November 24, 2013 . 
86. ↑ Jailed Tymoshenko on hunger strike over EU U-turn by Ukraine , Euronews , November 25, 2013
87. ↑ Yulia Tymoshenko ends hunger strike. In: The world . December 6, 2013, accessed December 12, 2013 . 
88. ↑ ^{a b c d} Live updates of the protests , Kyiv Post , November 27, 28 & 29, 2013
89. ↑ Ukraine fails to sign landmark deal at EU summit , Euronews , November 29, 2013
90. ↑ Ukraine's rejection of EU deal brings rival rallies at home , Euronews , November 29, 2013
91. ↑ ^{a b} Ukraine opposition demands leader resign after EU snub , Seven News , November 30, 2013
92. ↑ Ukraine: tension in Kyiv as pro and anti government protesters hold rallies , Euronews , November 29, 2013
93. ↑ Ukrainian police oust pro-EU protest from landmark Kiev square. In: Russia Today. November 30, 2013, accessed January 9, 2014 . 
94. ↑ 75 were injured during Nov. 30 dispersal of EuroMaidan. In: Kyiv Post. Interfax-Ukraine, December 5, 2013, accessed January 9, 2014 . 
95. ↑ Kyiv chief doctor: Some 35 people seek help from doctors, seven hospitalized after violent dispersal of opposition rally. In: Kyiv Post. Interfax-Ukraine, November 30, 2013, accessed January 9, 2014 . 
96. ↑ Ukraine police disperse EU deal protesters. In: BBC News. November 30, 2013, accessed January 9, 2014 . 
97. ↑ Oksana Grytsenko: Witness: Steps on Independence Square 'were all covered in blood'. In: Kyiv Post. November 30, 2013, accessed January 9, 2014 . 
98. ↑ Serhiy Kudelia reviews Andrew Wilson: Ukraine Crisis , Open Democracy, November 19, 2014
99. ↑ At the Michael Square 5 thousand yell “Cad onto Yolka” (На Михайлівській 5 тисяч скандують “Хама на Йолку”) . Ukrayinska Pravda . November 30, 2013
100. ↑ At the Michael Square self-resistance squads are being formed (На Михайлівській площі формують загони самооборони) Ukrayinska Pravda . November 30, 2013
101. ↑ Сотня авто і автобуси їдуть із Львова на мітинг в Києві | Українська правда. Pravda.com.ua, accessed December 1, 2013 . 
102. ↑ Ukrainian opposition calls for early elections and national strike , The Ukrainian Week (November 30, 2013)
103. ^ In Transcarpathia, the regional headquarters of National Resistance has been established , UZHGOROD.in , December 3, 2013
104. ↑ Tens of thousands demonstrate against Yanukovych on December 1, 2013
105. ^ Brian Whitmore: Putin's Growing Threat Next Door. In: The Atlantic. December 6, 2013, accessed January 9, 2014 . 
106. ↑ Thousands Arrive For Pro-EU Rally In Ukraine, Storm Govt Buildings Eurasia Review. (No longer available online.) Eurasiareview.com, December 1, 2013, archived from the original on December 1, 2008 ; Retrieved December 8, 2013 . 
107. ↑ 'Revolution!' Thousands pour in for pro-EU rally in Ukraine, storm govt buildings - RT News. Rt.com, accessed December 8, 2013 . 
108. ↑ A way out for Ukraine. openDemocracy, December 4, 2013, accessed December 8, 2013 . 
109. ↑ Киев предреволюционный. In: Radio Svoboda. December 1, 2013, accessed January 9, 2014 . 
110. ↑ Timothy Ash: The Orange Revolution MKII. In: Kyiv Post. December 1, 2013, retrieved on December 1, 2013 : "Today has seen huge demonstrations - likely well over the 100,000 that are reported to have attended last Sunday's demonstrations, and with some estimating well over 300,000." 
111. ↑ ^{a b} First success for the opposition. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . December 2, 2013, accessed January 9, 2014 . 
112. ↑ ^{a b c d} Protests against the government in Ukraine. Vitali Klitschko calls on demonstrators to persevere. In: RP Online . December 2, 2013, accessed January 9, 2014 . 
113. ↑ Hundreds of people injured in demonstrations in Kiev. Oberösterreichische Nachrichten , December 1, 2013, accessed on February 26, 2014 . 
114. ↑ ^{a b c} EuroMaidan rallies on Dec. 1: A rowdy afternoon. In: Kyiv Post. December 1, 2013, accessed January 9, 2014 . 
115. ↑ Clashes rage as 100,000 Ukrainians demand EU pact. (No longer available online.) Yahoo !, Archived from the original on December 12, 2013 ; Retrieved December 13, 2013 . 
116. ↑ Lisa Erdmann: Demonstrators build tent city in Kiev. In: Spiegel Online , December 2, 2013.
117. ↑ Opposition: at Bankova are acting provocateurs (Опозиція: на Банковій діють провокатори) . BBC . December 1st, 2013
118. ↑ PROTEST AGAINST Yanukovych - Violence escalates in Ukraine
119. ↑ Storm of Bankova by titushky. Authorities need picture of horror to justify the following repressions? («Титушковый» штурм Банковой. Власти нужна картина ужаса для оправдания последующих репрессий?) . Ukraine Criminal. December 1st, 2013
120. ↑ [10]
121. ↑ Katya Gorchinskaya: Police report injuries, negotiate return of seized buildings. In: Kyiv Post. December 1, 2013, accessed January 9, 2014 . 
122. ↑ Euronews cameraman beaten by police in Kiev clashes , Euronews , December 1, 2013
123. ↑ Olga Rudenko: NY Times, AFP photographers among at least 30 journalists injured in clashes with police. In: Kyiv Post. December 2, 2013, accessed January 9, 2014 . 
124. ↑ Ukraine: Injured during protests in Kiev. Frankfurter Rundschau , November 30, 2013, accessed on February 26, 2014 . 
125. ↑ Kyiv protests persist as Yanukovych hangs on to power , Euronews , December 3, 2013
126. ↑ Ukraine: protesters block off government headquarters in Kyiv ( Memento of February 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), Euronews (December 2, 2013)
127. ↑ Ukrainian President Defends Refusal to Sign Accords, as Protests Continue , The New York Times , December 2, 2013
128. ↑ Три західні області оголосили страйк. In: Ukrainska Pravda. December 2, 2013, accessed January 9, 2014 . 
129. ↑ Ukrainian opposition lacks the necessary majority - no confidence vote in Kiev ( memento of December 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
130. ↑ Prime minister survives no confidence vote in chaotic parliament (UPDATED). Kyivpost.com, accessed December 4, 2013 . 
131. ↑ Yanukovich kicks off his 'big lender' tour: First stop China, next Russia. RT.com, December 4, 2013, accessed December 13, 2013 . 
132. ↑ Russia and Ukraine leaders seek partnership treaty , BBC News , December 6, 2013.
133. ↑ Yanuk did deal w Putin at Sochi. December 7, 2013, accessed December 13, 2013 . 
134. ↑ СМИ: Янукович якобы подписал соглашение о присоединении к ТС. In: UNIAN. December 7, 2013, accessed January 9, 2014 . 
135. ↑ President signed agreements on accession to the Customs Union (Президент, за даними джерел, підписав у Сочі угоду про вступ в МС.). In: TSN. December 7, 2013, accessed January 9, 2014 . 
136. ↑ Від Януковича вимагають оприлюднити документ, який він підписав із Путіним. Radiosvoboda.org, accessed December 8, 2013 . 
137. ↑ Russia-Ukraine talks fuel suspicion, anger in Kiev. In: Reuters. December 7, 2013, accessed January 9, 2014 . 
138. ↑ Putin, Yanukovych didn't discuss Ukraine joining Customs Union - Kremlin spokesman - News - Politics - The Voice of Russia: News, Breaking news, Politics, Economics, Business, Russia, International current events, Expert opinion, podcasts, Video. The Voice of Russia, accessed December 8, 2013 . 
139. ↑ Euromaidan activists depart for Mezhyhirya residence. In: Interfax-Ukraine. December 6, 2013, accessed December 27, 2013 . 
140. ↑ Yanukovych's smooth ride to Mezhyhirya mansion. In: Kyiv Post . August 19, 2010, accessed December 27, 2013 . 
141. ↑ Traffic on road towards Mezhyhirya residence blocked off by police - media. In: Interfax-Ukraine. December 6, 2013, accessed December 27, 2013 . 
142. ↑ Katya Gorchinskaya: Awesome panoramic video, photos prove it really was a March of a Million. In: Kyiv Post. December 9, 2013, accessed January 9, 2014 . 
143. ↑ Ukraine sees largest anti-govt protest since 2004. (No longer available online.) In: Washington Post. December 8, 2013, archived from the original on December 10, 2013 ; accessed on January 9, 2014 . 
144. ↑ В оппозиции насчитали миллион митингующих в Киеве - Одесса.comments.ua. Odessa.comments.ua, accessed December 15, 2013 . 
145. ↑ Ukrainian protesters topple Lenin statue in Kiev | Reuters. Uk.reuters.com, December 8, 2013, accessed December 15, 2013 . 
146. ↑ На постаменте, где стоял памятник Ленину, установлен флаг Украины и красно-черный стяг еолтате читате. In: UNIAN. December 8, 2013, accessed January 9, 2014 . 
147. ↑ Protesters overthrow Lenin statue. (No longer available online.) Tagesschau.de, December 8, 2009, archived from the original on December 11, 2013 ; Retrieved December 15, 2013 . 
148. ↑ Пам`ятник Леніну знесли нардепи від "Свободи", - Мірошниченко - Київ.comments.ua. Kyiv.comments.ua, January 1, 1970, accessed December 15, 2013 . 
149. ↑ opposition leaders say Their roadblocks in Kyiv streets attacked - Tiahnybok. Interfax-Ukraine, December 9, 2009, accessed December 15, 2013 . 
150. ^ Government wants to cut off electricity before attack on Euromaidan, opposition ready for this - Tiahnybok. Interfax-Ukraine, December 9, 2009, accessed December 15, 2013 . 
151. ↑ Колонна спецназа, прорвав оцепление, движется в Киев - Донецк.comments.ua. (No longer available online.) Donetsk.comments.ua, Jan. 1, 1970, archived from the original on Jan. 25, 2014 ; Retrieved December 15, 2013 . 
152. ↑ 2013-12-09T10: 24 + 02: 00 10:24 December 9, 2013: «Беркут» прорвав кордон мітингувальників у Василькові: понад 700 списиву спецназівців. Interfax-Ukraine, October 20, 2012, accessed December 15, 2013 . 
153. ↑ Kyiv's Teatralna subway station opened, no explosives found - Interior Ministry. Interfax-Ukraine, December 9, 2012, accessed December 15, 2013 . 
154. ↑ ^{a b} Ukraine police dismantle Kiev protest camps. Interfax-Ukraine, December 9, 2012, accessed December 15, 2013 . 
155. ↑ Police begin third attack on opposition's last roadblock on Luteranska Street in Kyiv - Svoboda , Interfax Ukraine, December 10, 2013
156. ↑ Raids on three opposition media as pro-european protests dispersed. In: Reporters Without Borders. December 10, 2013, accessed January 9, 2014 . 
157. ↑ СБУ не проводила жодних заходів в офісі «Батьківщини» - прес-центр. Interfax-Ukraine, October 20, 2012, accessed December 15, 2013 . 
158. ↑ [11]
159. ↑ [12]
160. ↑ Bernd Großheim: The courageous pastor of Kiev ( Memento from December 13, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), tagesschau.de from December 12, 2013, accessed on March 30, 2014
161. ↑ [13]
162. ↑ Christoph Sydow: Yanukovych deposes Kiev's mayor. In: Spiegel Online . December 14, 2013, accessed January 9, 2014 . 
163. ↑ [14]
164. ↑ EU criticizes tightened right to demonstrate in Ukraine , Süddeutsche Zeitung of January 17, 2014.
165. ↑ Ukraine's president signs anti-protest bill into law , BBC News , accessed November 10, 2014.
166. ↑ Klitschko wrestles negotiations from Yanukovych , Die Zeit, January 19, 2014.
167. ↑ Klitschko and Yanukovych negotiate after street battles. In: FAZ from January 20, 2014.
168. ↑ We will fight when necessary. In: FAZ of January 22, 2014.
169. ↑ Chronology of the Ukrainian Revolution In: Euromaidanpress of June 8, 2014
170. ↑ Ukrainian opposition storms government building. In: The Wall Street Journal (German online edition) of January 24, 2014.
171. ↑ In Lviv, insurgents are already in charge. In: Die Welt from January 29, 2014.
172. ↑ Ukraine - The radical threat from within , DiePresse.com of January 27, 2014
173. ↑ Battle for Kiev: Prime Minister resigns. In: focus online from January 28, 2014.
174. ↑ Exclusive: Leader of Far-Right Ukrainian Militant Group Talks Revolution With TIME , TIME on February 4, 2014
175. ↑ Andrew Wilson: Ukraine Crisis: What it Means for the West. Yale University Press, New Haven 2015, pp. 73-76.
176. ↑ How the lines blur in Kiev . Süddeutsche Zeitung, February 20, 2014, accessed October 4, 2014.
177. ↑ EU foreign ministers decide on sanctions against the Ukrainian leadership. At least 60 dead in new clashes in Kiev. Neues Deutschland , February 20, 2014, accessed on February 23, 2014 . 
178. ↑ Дві жінки отримали ураження гумовими кулями. Силовики кидаються шумовими гранатами з дахів . In: Ukrayinska Pravda . February 18, 2014. Archived from the original on December 1, 2008. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
179. ↑ dpa : dead in street fighting in Kiev. Süddeutsche Zeitung , February 18, 2014, accessed on February 18, 2014 . 
180. ↑ Police advance on the Maidan. Tages-Anzeiger , February 18, 2014, accessed February 18, 2014 . 
181. ↑ Clashes in Kiev: The Maidan is on fire. tagesschau.de , February 18, 2014, accessed on February 18, 2014 . 
182. ^ House of the unions burned down ; last accessed on April 12, 2014 (Ukrainian)
183. ↑ In the house of the trade unions the false ceilings collapsed ( Memento of March 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive ); last accessed on April 12, 2014 (Ukrainian)
184. ^ Big city of Lviv declares itself to be autonomous. n-tv , February 19, 2014, accessed on February 23, 2014 . 
185. ^ Andreas Kappeler: Brief history of the Ukraine. CH Beck, Munich 2014, page 342
186. ^ After the armistice: Another unrest in Kiev. Der Tagesspiegel , February 20, 2014, accessed on February 20, 2014 . 
187. ^ EU and Yanukovych discuss the "crisis roadmap". RP Online , February 20, 2014, accessed February 20, 2014 . 
188. ↑ Composed. The gunmen from Maidan Square in Kiev. Video in: Spiegel TV Magazin from March 20, 2016 (12 minutes)
189. ^ Andreas Kappeler: Brief history of the Ukraine. CH Beck, Munich 2014, page 343
190. ^ Andreas Kappeler: Brief history of the Ukraine. Beck, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-406-67019-0 , p. 343.
191. ↑ Right sector does not believe Yanukovych , February 21, 2014, Kyiv Post
192. ↑ Yanukovych approves new elections. Die Presse , February 20, 2014, accessed February 20, 2014 . 
193. ↑ Yanukovych ready for early elections , Die Welt, February 21, 2014
194. ^ Yanukovych announces new elections , NZZ from February 21, 2014.
195. ↑ Activists demand the immediate resignation of Yanukovych , Süddeutsche Zeitung of February 21, 2014
196. ^ Agreement on the Settlement of Crisis in Ukraine. (PDF; 74 kB) Submission of the contract text. Federal Foreign Office , February 21, 2014, accessed on February 21, 2014 . 
197. ↑ Agreement signed to resolve the crisis in Ukraine. Federal Foreign Office , February 21, 2014, accessed on February 21, 2014 . 
198. ↑ Polish minister tells protest leader you will all be dead , ITV of February 21, 2014, original quote: "If you don't support this you will have martial law, the army, you'll all be dead."
199. ^ Website of the Heinrich Böll Foundation from October 25, 2010
200. ↑ eurasischesmagazin.de , last accessed on February 21, 2014
201. ↑ Ukraine: Return to the old constitution sealed. Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung , February 21, 2014, accessed on February 21, 2014 . 
202. ↑ ^{a b c d} Yanukovych deposed - Tymoshenko in freedom , Hamburger Abendblatt from February 22, 2014
203. ↑ Klitschko's blackest hour , FAZ from February 22, 2014
204. ↑ Meet the man who forced Ukraine's president to run for his life. New York Post , February 25, 2014, accessed March 31, 2014 . 
205. ↑ ^{a b} Yanukovych deposed - Tymoshenko in freedom , Hamburger Abendblatt dated February 22, 2014
206. ↑ Where is the President? , Wirtschaftswoche from February 22, 2014
207. ↑ Declaration on the website of the Ministry of Interior of Ukraine, accessed on February 22, 2014
208. ↑ ^{a b c} Turchinow is now interim president , Neues Deutschland from February 23, 2014
209. ↑ Parliament in Kiev elects new chairman , Der Tagesspiegel of February 22, 2014
210. ↑ Kiev under the control of the opposition. In: Spiegel Online . February 22, 2014, accessed March 31, 2014 . 
211. ↑ Turnaround in Ukraine: «An important step forward». 20 minutes , February 21, 2014, accessed February 23, 2014 . 
212. ↑ Resolution of the Verkhovna Rada №764-VІІ of 23 February 2014 "On conferring powers of the President of Ukraine on the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada gemäß to article 112 of the Constitution of Ukraine" ( Memento of 5 April 2014 Internet Archives ), statement on the official government website of the Ukrainian interim president dated February 25, 2014
213. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Münchhausen-Check: Putin and the legitimate President of Ukraine , Spiegel Online from March 6, 2014
214. ^ Constitutions of Ukraine , Constitutions of Ukraine
215. ^ How William Hague Deceived the House of Commons on Ukraine , Huffington Post, March 10, 2014
216. ^ William Hague has been cavalier with the facts in his support for the Ukraine rebels , The Telegraph of March 12, 2014
217. ^ Constitutional issues relating to the impeachment of the President of Ukraine. Supplement to the draft WD 3 - 3000 - 068/14 , Scientific Service of the German Bundestag, January 5, 2015
218. ^ Tymoshenko: The fight in Ukraine is not over , Der Tagesspiegel from February 22, 2014
219. ^ "Putin's arguments are threadbare" , Tagesschau, March 5, 2014
220. ↑ Interior Minister of Ukraine: Law enforcement agencies support the opposition , mk.ru, February 22, 2014
221. ↑ Paratroopers, Scouts and Alpha Promise to Serve the People , pravda.ua.com, February 22, 2014
222. ^ Army officially changed to the people , fakty.ictv.ua, February 22, 2014
223. ↑ Tymoshenko warns against breaking off the protests. In: Spiegel Online . February 22, 2014, accessed February 22, 2014 . 
224. ↑ Yanukovych deposed, Tymoshenko free (tagesschau.de on February 22, 2014) ( Memento from February 23, 2014 on WebCite )
225. ↑ Ukraine: Yulia Tymoshenko encourages the opposition. Süddeutsche Zeitung , February 22, 2014, accessed on February 23, 2014 . 
226. ↑ Interim president elected: Turchinov should lead Ukraine until the election. Neue Zürcher Zeitung , February 23, 2014, accessed on February 23, 2014 . 
227. ↑ Ukraine: New power structures are emerging , Heise online on February 24, 2014
228. ↑ Поіменне голосування про проект Закону про визнання таким, що втратив чинність, Закону України "Про засади державної мовної політики" (№1190) - за основу та в цілому. (No longer available online.) Verkhovna Rada , February 23, 2014, archived from the original on February 24, 2014 ; accessed on February 24, 2014 . 
229. ↑ Matthias Guttke, Hartmut Rank: Analysis: With the languages for votes. On the current language legislation in Ukraine. Federal Agency for Civic Education , September 14, 2012, accessed on March 26, 2015 . 
230. ^ EU recognizes the disempowerment of Yanukovych , RIA Novosti website from February 24, 2014
231. ↑ Before daunting tasks: struggle for the new government. Neue Zürcher Zeitung , February 26, 2014, accessed on April 13, 2014 . 
232. ↑ Yazenjuk is to become Prime Minister of Ukraine , Rheinische Post on February 26, 2014
233. ↑ Jazenjuk's Kamikaze Cabinet , Die Zeit on February 27, 2014
234. ↑ Euromaidan ( Memento of December 13, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), survey (published on December 10, 2013).
235. ↑ Half of Ukrainians don't support Kyiv Euromaidan, R&B poll
236. ↑ ^{a b c d} Olga Onuch: EuroMaidan Protests in Ukraine: Social Media Versus Social Networks . In: Problems of Post-Communism . 62, No. 4, 2015, pp. 217-235. doi: 10.1080 / 10758216.2015.1037676 .
237. ↑ Anna Chebotariowa in: David R. Marples, Frederick V. Mills: Ukraine's Euromaidan: Analyzes of a Civil Revolution , Columbia University Press, 2014, p. 167
238. ↑ Is the US backing neo-Nazis in Ukraine? - Salon.com
239. ↑ Ukraine: The Difficult Dealing with Swoboda and the Right Sector. In: Zeit Online. March 9, 2014, accessed March 16, 2016 . 
240. ^ Daniel Heinrich: Die Russiaversteher - Deutsche Welle, March 20, 2014
241. ^ Descent of the right-wing extremists in Ukraine , DW, April 4, 2014.
242. ^ Anton Shekhovtsov and Andreas Umland: Analysis: The Ukrainian radical right, European integration and the neo-fascist danger . In: Federal Agency for Civic Education , June 2, 2014.
243. ^ Shekhovtsov, Anton (2011). "The Creeping Resurgence of the Ukrainian Radical Right? The Case of the Freedom Party ". Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 63, pp. 203-228.
244. ↑ Rudling, Per Anders (2012), "Anti-Semitism and the Extreme Right in Contemporary Ukraine", Mapping the Extreme Right in Contemporary Europe: From Local to Transnational (Routledge), p. 200.
245. ↑ Bojcun, Marko (2012), “The Socioeconomic and Political Outcomes of Global Financial Crisis in Ukraine”, Socioeconomic Outcomes of the Global Financial Crisis: Theoretical Discussion and Empirical Case Studies (Routledge), p. 151.
246. ^ First success for the opposition in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , December 2, 2013
247. ↑ Olga Onuch: Maidans Past and Present: Comparing the Orange Revolution and the Euromaidan. In David R. Marples and Frederick V. Mills (eds.): Ukraine's Euromaidan: Analyzes of a Civil Revolution . Ibidem-Verlag, Stuttgart 2015, ISBN 978-3-8382-0740-7 , pp. 27-56 .
248. ↑ Masses of demonstrators are gathering again in Ukraine - some demonstrating for, others against the government , Die Zeit , December 15, 2013.
249. ↑ 60,000 at pro-government demonstration in Kiev , from Ria Novosti , December 14, 2013
250. ↑ Protests in Ukraine - A new attempt by the opposition ( Memento from December 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
251. ^ Opposition mobilized in Kiev , Deutsche Welle , December 8, 2013
252. ↑ DEMONSTRATIONS - Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians demand Yanukovych to resign
253. ↑ ^{a b} Turchinow is now the new interim president , Neues Deutschland from February 23, 2014
254. ↑ Ukrainian Jews urged to leave Kiev as Yanukovich is ousted by Parliament ( Memento from February 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
255. ↑ Ukrainian rabbi tells Kiev's Jews to flee city , Haaretz, February 22, 2014
256. ↑ Statement by the President of the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress on the situation in Ukraine , website Ukraine-nachrichten.de, accessed on March 3, 2014
257. ↑ No increasing anti-Semitism in Ukraine , FAZ of March 24, 2014
258. ↑ Andrew Higgins: Among Ukraine's Jews, the Bigger Worry Is Putin, Not Pogroms . In: The New York Times , April 8, 2014.
259. ↑ Oligarchs as unexpected bridge builders , NZZ from March 4, 2014
260. ^ "No anti-Semitism on the Maidan" ( Memento from March 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
261. ^ Jewish experts expose Putin's propaganda , Welt Online, April 11, 2014.
262. ↑ Open letter of Ukrainian Jews to Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin ( Memento from September 15, 2015 in the Internet Archive ). Euro-Asain Jewish Congress, March 5, 2014: “You consciously pick and choose lies and slander from the massive amount of information about Ukraine. (...) The Jews of Ukraine, as all ethnic groups, are not absolutely unified in their opinion towards what is happening in the country. But we live in a democratic country and can afford a difference of opinion. Unfortunately, we must admit that in recent days stability in our country has been threatened. And this threat is coming from the Russian government, namely - from you personally. It is your policy of inciting separatism and crude pressure placed on Ukraine that threatens us and all Ukrainian people, including those who live in Crimea and the Ukrainian south-east. South-eastern Ukrainians will soon see that for themselves. (...) Vladimir Vladimirovich, we are quite capable of protecting our rights in a constructive dialogue and in cooperation with the government and civil society of a sovereign, democratic, and united Ukraine. We strongly urge you not to destabilize the situation in our country and to stop your attempts of delegitimizing the new Ukrainian government. “On Haaretz in the web archive:
263. ↑ “Fascist Saujuden Junta”: 4. Jewish agitation in the Ukraine . In: Focus Online , May 6, 2014.
264. ↑ Thomas Franke: Ukraine conflict: fear and flight . In: Deutschlandrundfunk , August 18, 2014.
265. ↑ Putin's Fabricated Anti-Semitism in Ukraine . In: Moscow Times , April 13, 2014.
266. ^ Fake Rabbi's Letter in Moscow's “Ukrainian anti-Semitism” propaganda ( memento of March 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). In: Euro-Asian Jewish Congress , June 3, 2014.
267. ↑ Right Sector does not believe Yanukovych , Kyiv Post, February 22, 2014
268. ↑ Yanukovych's willing and less willing helpers , FAZ, February 20, 2014
269. ↑ "My patrols on the nights of Kiev against criminals and corrupt agents" La Stampa, January 25, 2014
270. ^ Andreas Kappeler: Brief history of the Ukraine. CH Beck, Munich 2014, page 341
271. ↑ Blind eye turned to influence of far-right in Ukrainian crisis: critics , Global News Canada on March 7, 2014
272. ↑ В Ровно "Сашко Білий" избил прокурора , Ukrainian edition of Komsomolskaya Pravda on February 28, 2014
273. ↑ The office of the Communist Party in Kiev stormed ( memento of March 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), Die Zeit, February 23, 2014
274. ↑ ^{a b} Left sees fascists in opposition in Ukraine , Die Welt on February 20, 2014
275. ↑ Attack on TV boss in Ukraine. No pure democrats , FAZ from March 19, 2014.
276. ↑ Ukrainian head of state television deposed. (No longer available online.) Horizon , March 26, 2014, archived from the original on May 2, 2014 ; accessed on May 2, 2014 . 
277. ^ Commemoration in Kiev, dead in Charkiw ( memento from February 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), Tagesschau.de, February 22, 2015
278. ↑ МВС УКРАЇНИ mvs.gov.ua, March 3, 2014
279. ^ Opposition reports five dead and hundreds injured. ( Memento from January 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) In: tagesschau.de . 22th January 2014.
280. ^ For independence , TAZ, February 22, 2015
281. ↑ Torn Ukraine , Das Erste, documentation by Golineh Atai, July 8, 2015
282. ↑ Heavenly Hundred Includes Another Fighter , Radio Swoboda, March 10, 2015
283. ↑ ^{a b} Police officers in Kiev shoot Swiss weapons . Tages-Anzeiger Abroad. March 2, 2014. Retrieved March 3, 2014.
284. ^ Benno Tuchschmid and Fabian Eberhard: Swiss rifles on the Maidan . Sunday newspaper . March 2, 2014. Retrieved March 4, 2014.
285. ↑ Ukraine crisis: bugged call reveals conspiracy theory about Kiev snipers , The Guardian, March 5, 2014
286. ↑ Estonia: Misinterpretation of a conversation about snipers in Kiev , BBC, March 5, 2014: The Estonian minister believes that this recording was published with the aim of discrediting the new government of Ukraine .
287. ↑ Text of the phone call on Standard.at.
288. ↑ Investigator doubts the prosecutor's version. (No longer available online.) ARD , April 10, 2014, archived from the original on April 10, 2014 ; Retrieved April 10, 2014 .  , Dead by snipers: ARD report feeds doubts about version of the government in Kiev. Spiegel Online , April 10, 2014, accessed April 15, 2014 . 
289. ↑ Who shot the demonstrators on the Maidan? , Die Welt, March 6, 2014
290. ↑ Piontkovsky: Georgia - Ukraine to Ukraine - the Baltic states , Delfi.ru, February 21, 2014
291. ↑ "Russia's Destinations Are Ukraine and Kiev" , Die Welt, March 18, 2014
292. ↑ Russia, Ukraine feud over sniper carnage , Yahoo News, March 8, 2014
293. ↑ Nalyvaychenko: Surkov also led the foreign snipers on the Maidan , Ukrajinska Pravda , February 19, 2015
294. ↑ Ukraine accuses Russia over Maidan 2014 killings , BBC, February 20, 2015
295. ↑ http://uottawa.academia.edu/IvanKatchanovski
296. ↑ https://www.heise.de/tp/features/Scharfschuetzenmorde-in-Kiew-3369005.html
297. ↑ http://www.academia.edu/8776021/The_Snipers_Massacre_on_the_Maidan_in_Ukraine
298. ^ Publisher: Routledge, Editors: JL Black, Michael Johns, ISBN 978-1-138-92409-3 , pp. 220-224.
299. ↑ Snipers' Massacre on the Maidan Video Appendix I Part 1 on YouTube
300. ^ Ukraine Between the Maidan and Western Europe , The Catholic World Report, August 2, 2015
301. ↑ David Marples: The Snipers' Massacre In Kyiv , October 23, 2014; Moreover, the paper appears politically driven / passages that are completely off topic, such as the author's allusion (p. 28) to Nazi, OUN, and UPA-led crimes in the Second World War / The conclusion is a veritable jumble of illogical reasoning and statements that do not seem warranted by the findings, which are themselves confusing.
302. ↑ Who Killed the Kiev Protesters? A 3-D Model Holds the Clues , The New York Times Magazine, May 30, 2018
303. ↑ Ukraine: Police arrested on suspicion of mass murder
304. ↑ Disgraced euromaidan Special Forces reappear at Moscow protest . In: Moscow Times , June 13, 2017.
305. ^ A former Berkut commander now wanted in Ukraine for crimes against protesters is spotted working for Moscow's riot police . In: Meduza , June 13, 2017.
306. ↑ Yanukovych on charges: High treason trial . In: NZZ , May 5, 2017.
307. ↑ Tagesschau: Steinmeier indicates EU sanctions on February 18, 2014 9:07 pm.
308. ↑ Bernd Riegert: EU wants sanctions against Yanukovych. Deutsche Welle , February 19, 2014, accessed on February 23, 2014 . 
309. ↑ Left Party: Partisanship of the West helped fascists to power , FAZ on March 10, 2014
310. ↑ dpa, AFP, rav: Merkel supports Klitschko - ZEIT ONLINE, December 8, 2013
311. ↑ Demonstrations in Ukraine: EU and USA condemn police operation in Kiev
312. ↑ Tagesschau.de: McCain supports the opposition ( Memento from December 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
313. ↑ Obama imposes sanctions on Ukraine . Tages-Anzeiger Abroad. February 20, 2014. Retrieved February 20, 2014.
314. ↑ Suspected money laundering: Switzerland blocks accounts with Yanukovych millions . Mirror online. February 28, 2014. Retrieved March 4, 2014.
315. ^ Swiss rifles on the Maidan , Sunday newspaper, March 2, 2014; Procurement for Euro 2012
316. ↑ Parliament relaxes rules for war material exports . Tages-Anzeiger Domestic. February 28, 2014. Retrieved March 6, 2014.
317. ↑ Simplified arms exports are a reality - no new vote . Tages-Anzeiger Domestic. March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
318. ↑ Lenta.ru Путин назвал протесты на Украине “хорошо подготовленными” , December 2, 2013
319. ↑ ria.ru Putin spoke of a “pogrom” in Ukraine , December 2, 2013
320. ↑ Third countries must not hinder Ukraine's further development. "SKY24" ( Memento from December 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) December 6, 2013
321. ↑ Hamburger Abendblatt from February 24, 2014
322. ↑ Moscow concerned about the resolutions in Kiev and doubts the legitimacy of the Supreme Rada , website of RIA Novosti of February 24, 2014
323. ↑ FAZ.net: Russia - Putin has combat readiness checked in the event of a crisis , accessed on February 26, 2014
324. ↑ Federation Council of Russia approves military operation in Ukraine
325. ↑ Wayne Madsen: Ukraine: NATO's Eastern Prize , on Voltaire Net
326. ↑ Mercenaries took part in Maidan violence - Ex-Ukraine security chief - RT
327. ↑ Uprising in Ukraine prepared by USA and EU - ex-CIA agent - voice of Russia
328. ^ Western mercenaries fought in Maidan protest - Voice of Russia
329. ↑ Putin calls change of power in Kiev an “unconstitutional coup” ( Memento from March 23, 2014 in the web archive archive.today ) - Forward
330. ↑ Enthusiasm about the ruler Putin - Focus
331. ^ Media in the Crimean Crisis: Skirmishes in the Propaganda War , Spiegel Online, March 5, 2014.
332. ↑ In Ukraine, McCain Tells Protesters' America Stands with You - ABC News
333. ↑ Article about UDAR on the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung website
334. ↑ Jutta Sommerbauer: Elections in Ukraine: Klitschko's most difficult fight. In: The press . October 27, 2012, accessed December 22, 2013 . 
335. ↑ FAREED ZAKARIA GPS GLOBAL PUBLIC SQUARE - 2014-05-25.
336. ↑ Agents on the front line - Berlin, Washington and Warsaw have their people on the Maidan - Junge Welt
337. ↑ Sergey Sukhankin, Alla Hurska: Russian informational and propaganda campaign against Ukraine prior to the Euromaidan (2013–2014): denying sovereignty . In: Securitologia . 21, No. 1, 2015, pp. 35–59. doi: 10.5604 / 18984509.1184216 .
338. ↑ Mykola Ryabchuk : Ukraine: Russian propaganda and three disaster scenarios - The Russian leadership has become entangled in the logic of its own propaganda. , AlJazeera, April 11, 2014; The Russian anti-Ukrainian propaganda has been thoughtfully elaborated within the past ten years and transformed into a full-fledged information war since November 2013 to acquire the Russian population's support for action against Ukraine.
339. ↑ Marta Dyczok: Information wars: hegemony, counter-hegemony, propaganda, the use of force, and resistance . In: Russian Journal of Communication . 6, No. 2, 2014, pp. 173–176. doi: 10.1080 / 19409419.2014.908694 : "When the EuroMaidan protests began, Russian media largely portrayed the protesters as a small group of unemployed fascist radicals who were disturbing the peace, the same framing Yanukovych's spin-doctors were using."
340. ↑ Cyrill Stieger: Propaganda War for the Ukraine: The fairy tale of fascism in Kiev . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , March 13, 2014.
341. ↑ Euromaidan: Not an extremist, but a liberal mass movement . Heinrich Böll Foundation, February 20, 2014.
     Historians on Ukrainian rights: “Not the core of the movement” . In: the daily newspaper , February 22, 2014.
342. ^ Andreas Umland: Analysis: The Ukrainian radical right, European integration and the neo-fascist danger . In: Federal Agency for Civic Education , June 2, 2014.
343. ↑ Evgeniya Boklage: How media loyal to the Kremlin report on the Euromaidan . European Journalism Observatory , March 3, 2014.
344. ↑ Putin to the West: Hands off Ukraine , Time, May 25, 2009; In April 2008, a source told Russia's Kommersant newspaper how Putin described Ukraine to George Bush at a NATO meeting in Bucharest: “You don't understand, George, that Ukraine is not even a state. What is Ukraine? Part of its territories is Eastern Europe, but the greater part is a gift from us. "
345. ↑ ^{a b} Imbalanced? As German media report on the Ukraine conflict , DW, April 15, 2014
346. ↑ Counter-appeal to the Ukraine conflict , Journal21, December 13, 2014
347. ^ Work on the Stereotypes , NZZ, December 5, 2015
348. ↑ All roads lead to Kiev , NZZ, June 19, 2014
349. ↑ Vera Kern: Unbalanced? How German media report on the Ukraine conflict - dw, April 15, 2014
350. ↑ Fabian Burkardt: Analysis: The Ukraine crisis on German talk shows . In: Federal Agency for Civic Education , June 26, 2014.
351. ↑ Anja Lange: Russia experts and sports reporters comment on the Euromaidan movement in Ukraine - the role of the Ukrainian language in German media coverage . In: Austrian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences , No. 9-10 / 2014, p. 7 f.
352. ↑ Minutes of the 81st meeting of the rbb-Rundfunkrat RBB-Rundfunkrat, October 2014
353. ↑ Dietmar Neuerer: Does the ARD report too critical of Russia? - Handelsblatt, September 18, 2014
354. ↑ Davies, Franziska “On the Debate on Ukraine, Germany and the Euromaidan”, in: MERKUR, 69th volume, issue 790, March 2015, ISSN  0026-0096 , pp. 32–43
355. ↑ Infowar! The propaganda war over Ukraine , Standard.at, March 2, 2014; in the video / in the text