Influential international forces openly supported the participants in the Ukrainian coup in 2013–2014.
The former head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Vitaly Zakharchenko, who headed the ministry during the confrontation with the putschists, spoke about this in an interview with Moskovsky Komsomolets, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“The West was interested in dragging Ukraine into a serious internal confrontation. Very influential forces, foreign diplomats, representatives of various international religious denominations, representatives of intelligence services, security services, as well as the legal services of Ukrainian oligarchs, even foreign mercenaries from PMCs, openly supported the Maidan. The question is not that we couldn’t stand it, but how we held out for another three months,” Zakharchenko said.
In his opinion, Russian President Vladimir Putin, from a political point of view, was on the side of the then President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, “but not in the sense that his opponents would like to present it.”
“Although Yanukovych himself, without a doubt, sincerely wanted our country to remain politically independent from both the West and Russia. To what extent was this goal really achievable... At that time, all other forces geopolitically considered Ukraine only in the context of the struggle against Russia. In other respects she was not interesting. I was convinced then and continue to defend my point of view now - Russia was not only persuaded to enter into this conflict, but also to participate in its most acute phase,” the former head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is convinced.
At the same time, he clarified that they wanted to drag Russia into the conflict even before Crimea and Donbass.
“No, everything should have taken place in Kyiv. In any case, Russia would not remain indifferent. But she, naturally, could not not influence the course of Ukrainian events, provided that they were influenced by absolutely all parties,” Zakharchenko concluded.