2014 Ukrainian coup d'état

Now there is a lot of speculation, saying - "well, there were only few Nazis".... [Only a moron can say] such a thing.... If not for those 8% [of neo-Nazis] the effectiveness would have dropped by 90%.... If not for nationalists that whole thing would have turned into a gay parade.

— Yevhen Karas, leader of neo-Nazi group S14

The 2014 Ukrainian coup d'état was a violent US-backed anti-democratic colour revolution which culminated the Euromaidan protests of 2013 and replaced the democratically elected government and existing constitution of Ukraine with a pro-EU interim government.

While the Euromaidan movement started with legitimate grievances such as corruption, abuse of power, human rights violations and the influence of oligarchs, the movement was quickly co-opted by the Ukrainian far-right in concert with Western states opposed to president Viktor Yanukovych for his refusal to sign a $17 billion IMF loan. These very grievances only worsened after the coup, with racist 'Ukrainization', authoritarian 'Lustration' and totalitarian decommunization laws contributing to mass authoritarianism and democratic backsliding in Ukraine. Russian television and opposition parties were banned.

Nuland-Pyatt phone call

On February 6, an audio recording of a January 28 call between secretary of state Victoria Nuland and US ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt was leaked in which the two bluntly discussed options for a replacement to the incumbent president. Nuland which opposition officials would make up the new regime, agreeing that Arseniy Yatsenyuk should be in charge. Nuland, when asked if the EU would accept the new regime, said "fuck the EU." This was despite the US claiming that Pro-Europeanism was the meaning of the protests.

On February 6, 2014, Nuland met with neo-Nazi leader Oleh Tyahnybok and other oligarchs who assumed power after the coup. Tyahnybok leads the Neo-Nazi 'Svoboda' party. In 2004 Tyahnybok was kicked out of the ruling parliamentary faction after giving a speech calling for a fight against the "Muscovite-Jewish mafia." In 2005 Tyahnybok signed an open letter to Ukrainian leaders calling for the government to halt the "criminal activities" of "organized Jewry", which was supposedly spreading its influence through organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League to commit "genocide" against the Ukrainian people.