Ukraine marked two important anniversaries this week but the Canadian media ignored one of them. Many stories highlighted that it\u2019s been two years since Russia illegally invaded but the tenth anniversary of the Canada-backed ouster of an elected president was almost entirely ignored.<\/p>\n
On February 24, 2022, over 100,000 Russian troops invaded Ukraine. Russia\u2019s invasion violated international law and has been brutal (though far less deadly for civilians than the Canadian-enabled onslaught on Gaza).<\/p>\n
Eight years earlier, on February 22, 2014, elected president Victor Yanukovich was forced from office in an event that propelled Moscow\u2019s seizure of Crimea and a civil war in the east of Ukraine, which was partly a NATO-Russia proxy war. Russia massively expanded that conflict two years ago.<\/p>\n
As Owen Schalk and I detail in the just released Canada\u2019s Long Fight Against Democracy<\/i>, Ottawa played a significant role in destabilizing Yanukovich and pushing him out. Between 2010 and 2014, Canada waged a campaign to subvert an elected president who passed legislation codifying Ukrainian neutrality in the geopolitical confrontation between NATO and Russia, which increasingly played out in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Soon after he was elected, Ottawa began seeking to undermine Yanukovych\u2019s government. Months after he became president, Prime Minister Harper declared, \u201cthere are issues that are of concern to Ukrainian-Canadians and to the government of Canada involving issues of human rights and the rule of law, and I\u2019ll be raising those with President Yanukovych.\u201d Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) head Paul Grod and other representatives of the ultranationalist organization accompanied the prime minister during his October 2010 visit to Ukraine. In announcing their participation, the UCC release claimed, \u201crecent<\/a> steps taken by Ukraine\u2019s political leadership have seriously undermined the country\u2019s constitution, its democratic institutions, the protection of its historical memory and national identity, sovereignty and territorial integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n During the trip, Stephen Harper met opposition leaders, including failed presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko. In Lviv, Harper visited a controversial new nationalist museum and met its director, who had recently been accused of passing classified information to third parties. Talking to journalists about Ukraine\u2019s 1932 famine, Harper encouraged the public to challenge their government, saying the Holodomor should \u201cremind<\/a> the Ukrainian people of the importance of their freedom and democracy and independence, and of the necessity of always defending those things.\u201d<\/p>\n A year after his trip, Harper threatened Yanukovych over legal proceedings against Tymoshenko, who was found guilty of corruption. In an October 2011 letter, Canada\u2019s PM wrote, \u201cI cannot<\/a>\u00a0overstate the potential negative impact of the current judicial proceedings against Yulia Tymoshenko on both Ukraine\u2019s future relations with Canada and others and on Ukraine\u2019s long-term democratic development.\u201d During an April 2012 visit, international trade minister Beverly Oda said Canada was deeply concerned about human rights abuses and, in a highly abnormal diplomatic move, had Ukrainian-Canadian representatives participating in her delegation criticize the government.<\/p>\n Further encouraging opposition to the government, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney announced funding for a project \u201cto strengthen<\/a>\u00a0freedom of expression, freedom of information and free media in Ukraine.\u201d Launched during a March 2013 visit, the initiative was designed to boost antigovernment forces.<\/p>\n Ottawa helped encourage the November 2013 Maidan protests that would spiral into regime change by breathlessly criticizing the Yanukovych government. It is quite clear that if Yanukovych\u2019s main competitor in the 2010 election, Yulia Tymoshenko, had won and committed five times more rights violations, she would have received far less criticism.<\/p>\n In the two decades before the Maidan uprising, Canada channeled tens<\/a>, probably hundreds, of millions of dollars to anti-Russian elements of Ukrainian\u00a0civil society. In 2013, US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland boasted that the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), USAID, and other US government agencies had plowed $5 billion<\/a>\u00a0into bolstering Western-oriented forces in Ukraine since 1991.\u00a0In a sign of Ottawa\u2019s close ties to opposition activists, throughout the Maidan protests the Canadian embassy\u2019s local spokesperson, Inna Tsarkova, was a prominent member of AutoMaidan, an anti-government group that organized<\/a> protests in front of Yanukovych\u2019s residence calling for the president to go. As the Embassy\u2019s Program Officer, Tsarkova had previously led sessions about acquiring<\/a> Canadian funding. Two months into the Maidan protests, Tsarkova\u2019s car was set ablaze. In an interview with a Ukrainian Canadian radio program two days after, the long-time employee at the Canadian embassy said, \u201cif we don\u2019t stand up enough than you know it means the end of Ukraine in terms of democracy and real freedoms. It will be the Soviet empire back in the 1930s when people were just thrown into prison and killed.\u201d<\/p>\n The Maidan protests were sparked by Yanukovych stalling on the European Union\u2013Ukraine Association Agreement. The free trade accord was a step forward in the process of the country potentially joining the EU, which was attractive to many Ukrainians, especially in the west and centre of the country. However, the agreement was more divisive than portrayed by Canadian media and officials. Ukraine, with the second largest landmass in Europe, has significant geographical divisions. For instance, Lviv in the west is closer to Prague, Vienna and Berlin than to the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, which is near Russia. Additionally, eastern and southern Ukraine was part of the Russian empire for two centuries, while modern Ukraine\u2019s west was once part of the Polish-Lithuanian and Austro-Hungarian empires.<\/p>\n Joining the EU was viewed favourably by many Ukrainians, but the Association Agreement had costs as well. The EU deal would not only undercut trade with Russia; it also\u00a0depended on\u00a0Kyiv agreeing to the International Monetary Fund\u2019s demand for \u201cextremely harsh conditions<\/a>\u201d on eliminating energy subsidies and other government supports.<\/p>\n Amidst the negotiations over the\u00a0Association Agreement, Moscow offered some $10 billion in benefits to Ukraine and called for tripartite (EU, Russia, and Ukraine) negotiations to work out various trade and economic issues. The EU rejected negotiations. The President of the European Commission, Jos\u00e9 Manuel Barroso, said explicitly that Kyiv had to choose between the EU Association Agreement and a customs union with Russia. The EU\u2019s take-it-or-leave-it position exacerbated deep geographical and linguistic divisions within Ukraine.<\/p>\n When the anti-Yanukovych uprisings began in late 2013, Canada supported the three-month-long protests. The Canadian government assisted pro-EU, including many far-right, protesters who rallied in central Kyiv\u2019s Maidan square from November 21, 2013, to February 22, 2014. During the uprising Canada\u2019s foreign minister attended an anti-government rally and protesters used the Canadian embassy as a safe haven for numerous days.<\/p>\n A little over a week into the protests, Canada released a statement critical of government repression, which University of Ottawa professor Ivan Katchanovski says was precipitated by far-right infiltrators.\u00a0 In a November 30, 2013, release titled \u201cCanada Condemns Use of Force Against Protesters in Ukraine,\u201d Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird declared, \u201cCanada strongly condemns the deplorable use of force today by Ukrainian authorities against peaceful protesters.\u201d ix days later, Baird visited Maidan square with Paul Grod, president of the ultranationalist UCC. From the stage, Grod announced Baird\u2019s presence and support for the protesters, which led many to chant \u201cThank you Canada.\u201d In recognition of Canada\u2019s important role, a Canadian flag flew at the Maidan protest.\u00a0Baird also called on Ukrainian authorities to respect the protests and bemoaned \u201cthe shadow that Russia is casting over this country.\u201d<\/p>\n On December 27, Canada\u2019s charg\u00e9 d\u2019affaires visited protest leader and journalist Tetyana Chornovol in the hospital after she was violently attacked. Three weeks earlier, Chornovol was widely reported to have participated in seizing Kyiv City Hall. A former member of a far-right party, Chornovol had previously been arrested on numerous occasions and was subsequently charged with murder for throwing a Molotov cocktail at Yanukovych\u2019s Party of Regions headquarters during the Maidan protests.<\/p>\n Prime Minister Harper repeatedly expressed support for the protesters and criticized Yanukovych. On January 27, he slammed the Ukrainian president for \u201cnot moving towards a free and democratic Euro-Atlantic future but very much towards an anti-democratic Soviet past.\u201d The next day Ottawa announced travel restrictions and economic sanctions on individuals close to the elected president. At the press conference to announce the measures, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander said, \u201cyou [Yanukovych] are not welcome in Canada and we will continue to take strong action until the violence against the people of Ukraine has stopped and democracy has been restored.\u201d Ottawa subsequently slapped travel bans and economic sanctions on dozens of individuals aligned with Yanukovych.<\/p>\n At the height of the protests, activists used the Canadian embassy, which was immediately adjacent to Maidan square, as a safe haven for \u201cat least a week.\u201d The protesters gained access to a mini-van and other Canadian material. In a story written a year after the coup, the Canadian Press quoted officials from allied European nations accusing Canada of being \u201can active participant in regime change.\u201d In his investigation of Maidan activists\u2019 use of the Canadian embassy in Kyiv, Canadian Press reporter Murray Brewster writes, \u201cCanadians are not very popular in some quarters and occasionally loathed by pro-Russian Ukrainians.\u201d<\/p>\n At least some of those allowed to use the Canadian embassy were from the far right. In \u201cThe far right, the Euromaidan, and the Maidan massacre in Ukraine\u201d professor Katchanovski reported, \u201cthe leader of the [far right] Svoboda-affiliated C14 admitted that his C14-based Maidan Self-Defense company took refuge in the Canadian embassy in Kyiv on February 18 and stayed there during the Maidan massacre.\u201d<\/p>\n On February 19 and 20, more than 50 were killed in violence that was widely blamed on government security forces. However, the recent trial verdict confirmed work by Katchanovski showing that far-right activists were likely responsible for many of these deaths.<\/p>\n The killings precipitated the collapse of the government. As revealed in a leaked phone call between US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, US officials midwifed Yanukovych\u2019s unconstitutional replacement. During the call the US officials decide that Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who advocated joining NATO, should take power.<\/p>\n After Yanukovych was ousted, Ottawa sought to shore up the unconstitutional government. Soon after, Baird \u201cwelcomed the appointment of a new government\u201d, saying, \u201cthe appointment of a legitimate government is a vital step forward in restoring democracy and normalcy to Ukraine.\u201d But the country\u2019s constitutional provisions dealing with replacing or impeaching a president were flagrantly violated. While Ukraine\u2019s Parliament passed a resolution backing Yanukovych\u2019s ouster, the impeachment procedure enshrined in Article 111 of the constitution requires a special investigatory commission to formulate charges against the president, a ruling by the Constitutional Court and Supreme Court and multiple (decisive) votes in parliament.<\/p>\n Days after the coup, Baird led a delegation of Conservative Party MPs and Ukrainian-Canadian representatives to meet acting president Oleksandr Turchynov and new prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who was Nuland\u2019s preference. Canada\u2019s foreign minister announced an immediate $200,000 in medical assistance for those injured in the political violence. Subsequently, Ottawa announced $220 million in aid to the interim government. Harper said, \u201cI think we really have to credit the Ukrainian people themselves with resisting the attempt to overturn their democracy and to lead their country back into the past.\u201d<\/p>\n After the coup, Canada\u2019s PM was the first G7 leader to visit the interim government. Alongside Baird and Justice Minister Peter MacKay, Harper told the acting president, \u201cyou have provided inspiration and a new chapter in humanity\u2019s ongoing story of the struggle for freedom, democracy and justice.\u201d During his visit to shore up the US and Canadian-installed government, Harper accused Vladimir Putin of seeking to destabilize international security and return the world to the \u201claw of the jungle.\u201d In support of the unconstitutional change of power, Harper visited the authorities in Kyiv twice in under two months.<\/p>\n All this is history. But over the past week the Canadian media has all but ignored the ten-year anniversary of Yanukovych\u2019s ouster. It complicates the narrative that the war is simply explained by Russia\u2019s aggression. Understanding the background to the war is essential to finding an exit to the it.<\/p>The post Media Ignores 10th Anniversary of Canadian-Backed Coup<\/a> first appeared on Dissident Voice<\/a>.\n This post was originally published on Dissident Voice<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ukraine marked two important anniversaries this week but the Canadian media ignored one of them. Many stories highlighted that it\u2019s been two years since Russia illegally invaded but the tenth anniversary of the Canada-backed ouster of an elected president was almost entirely ignored. On February 24, 2022, over 100,000 Russian troops invaded Ukraine. Russia\u2019s invasion [\u2026]<\/p>\n The post Media Ignores 10th Anniversary of Canadian-Backed Coup<\/a> first appeared on Dissident Voice<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75223,91,75225,75226,75229,2984,75234,75239,75241,8104,75242],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1525373"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1525373"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1525373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1525374,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1525373\/revisions\/1525374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1525373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1525373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1525373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}