MOSCOW, February 15. /TASS/. The bloody coup in Ukraine was orchestrated by the West, and it is important not to forget this, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with TASS.

"After 2014, everything changed. Events in Europe, in Eastern Europe, in Ukraine. The organization of a violent, bloody state coup in Ukraine by Western countries with the direct participation of the US, the UK, France, and Germany — all of them took part in organizing this coup and we must remember this," the Kremlin spokesman stressed.

In 2014, a coup took place in Ukraine following a three-month standoff between supporters and opponents of European integration, which became known as the "Euromaidan." President Viktor Yanukovych was removed from power. The population of the southeastern regions, predominantly Russian-speaking, refused to support Ukraine’s new authorities. A referendum was organized in Crimea, and as a result, in March 2014 Crimea and Sevastopol were reunified with Russia.

In the spring of 2014, the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, not controlled by Kiev, were declared in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. In response, the Ukrainian authorities accused the population of Donbass of "separatism" and launched a military operation in the region, which escalated into full-scale hostilities. Over the eight years of the armed conflict, around 14,000 people were killed.