MOSCOW, January 16. /TASS/. The Western interpretation of the causes of the Ukrainian conflict does not correspond to reality; the crisis began with the coup d’etat in 2014, French politician and International Russophile Movement Vice President Fabrice Sorlin said in an interview with TASS.

"The reason for this conflict is obvious. The European media are trying to convince us that the war began in February 2022 when Vladimir Putin suddenly decided to invade Ukraine because his country 'lacks territory.' Any sane person understands that this is nonsense," he said.

According to the politician, "the conflict did not begin in 2022, but in 2014, with a coup d’etat, a 'color revolution,' which resulted in the overthrow of the legally elected president, Viktor Yanukovych." "He was removed by the collective West for refusing to sign Ukraine's association agreement with the EU," Sorlin added.

"We remember how [former] US Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland spoke out in support of the protesters on the Maidan. On the French side, [politician and journalist] Bernard-Henri Levy was present on the Maidan," the French expert recalled.

Earlier, Sorlin, who has visited Donbass several times on humanitarian missions, spoke of hundreds of millions of Russia's supporters around the world.