US embassy orchestrated Ukraine coup d’état: Ex-premier

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov has blamed the United States for the political turmoil that started in his home country more than a year ago, when ex-president, Viktor Yanukovych, was ousted from power.

“The script [for instigating the unrest in Ukraine] was not written in Kiev. It was [written] in the US embassy. The key puppet masters were not on Maidan (the name of a square in Kiev which was the focal point of protests against Yanukovych). These dummies did not really manage anything and did not influence anything,” Azarov said in an exclusive interview with Russian-language NTV network on Sunday.

He also described the West’s discontent with the policies of the former Ukrainian president, and Yanukovych’s staunch opposition to join the US-led NATO military contingent as main factors behind his overthrow.

“That policy did not suit the United States and some partners in the EU,” the former Ukrainian premier said, adding, “They were constantly lecturing us. Active preparation started, which I did not pay proper attention to.”

Azarov further noted that Ukraine’s current Prime Minister Arseniy “Yatsenyuk went to get instructions from the American embassy every day: what to say and what demands to put forward.”

He also slammed the events marking the regime change in Kiev last February, arguing, “What has Ukraine got? Destruction, decline, loss of revenues of the population, war, killed citizens. What could be celebrated? We should go light a candle and pray for forgiveness.”

March against 2014 Ukraine coup

On Saturday, around 35,000 demonstrators staged a rally under the slogan “We won’t forget, we won’t forgive!” and converged near Moscow’s Red Square to protest against the ongoing developments in Ukraine, where the government is engaged in crushing a pro-Russia movement in the east.

Many of the participants, including ultranationalist bikers, pensioners, war veterans, members of student organizations and other pro-government groups, waved Russian flags, while some carried banners reading, “Die, America!”

Yanukovych served as the fourth president of Ukraine from February 2010 until the Ukrainian parliament voted on February 22, 2014, to remove him from his post, on the grounds that he was allegedly unable to fulfill his duties.

Two days later, the legislature issued a warrant for Yanukovych’s arrest, accusing him of the “mass killing of civilians” during protests that led to his overthrow. 

East Ukraine ceasefire

During peace talks in the Belarusian capital city of Minsk on February 11-12, the leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine agreed on the withdrawal of heavy weapons from Ukraine’s frontlines and a ceasefire, which officially went into effect at 2200 GMT on February 14. The two sides, however, have continued to engage in sporadic clashes.

Source of Ukraine conflict

Donetsk and Lugansk are two mainly Russian-speaking regions in eastern Ukraine that have been witnessing deadly clashes between pro-Russia forces and the Ukrainian army since Kiev launched military operations in April last year to crush pro-Russia protests there.

In May 2014, the situation in the two flashpoint regions started to worsen as residents overwhelmingly voted for independence from Ukraine in referendums. 

Nearly 5,700 people have been killed and close to a million have been displaced since the armed conflict began in eastern Ukraine in April 2014.   

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