2014 Ukrainian coup d'état

2014 coup in Ukraine
	Part of Second Cold War
	; Right Sector militants in front of the Verkhovna Rada in Kiev, Ukraine, on 3 March 2014
Date	3 March 2014
Location	Kiev, Ukraine
Status	Provisional government formed after the 2014 Ukrainian revolution overthrown
Belligerents
Ukrainian National Revolutionary Front	Government of Ukraine
Commanders and leaders
Oleh Tyahnybok; Dmytro Yarosh	Arseniy Yatsenyuk; Vitaly Klitschko
Units involved
	National Guard
Strength
2,000 - 20,500 protestors	400+ policemen
Casualties and losses
8 killed, 27 injured	5 killed, 19 injured

In March 2014 a coup d'état occurred in Ukraine, led by the ultranationalist organization Ukrainian National Revolutionary Front, which the recently formed government of Ukraine (in the aftermath of the Euromaidan). Following the ousting of President Viktor Yanukovych, many of the radical far right organizations that took part in taking over government buildings felt excluded from the new government. The new government demanded that these groups disarm in late February. In response, several of these far right groups (most notably Svoboda and Right Sector) unified into one political bloc, the Ukrainian National Revolutionary Front (UNRF). On 3 March 2014, they stormed government buildings in Kiev and arrested Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the interim Prime Minister of the new government.

Their leader, Oleh Tyahnybok, declared himself the new President of Ukraine shortly after the coup, and Oleksandr Turchynov, another member of the UNRF, became the new Prime Minister of Ukraine. The new regime declared martial law in Ukraine with the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation (following the Crimean status referendum) and succession of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. They held independence referendums and declared their succession from Ukraine in April, which resulted in the UNRF-led government in Kiev declaring war on the breakaway republics. Presidential and parliamentary elections were suspended by the new UNRF government, with the parliamentary elections being held in July 2015.

Background[]

In early 2014, massive protests began in Kiev, Ukraine, when President Viktor Yanukovych decided that Ukraine will not join the European Union by signing the EU Association Agreement. These mass protests lasted for weeks, and were heavily financed and organized by the United States, which wanted to limit Russian influence in Ukraine. In late February, the rioters overthrew the government, storming government buildings and forcing Yanukovych to flee the country. The individuals who assumed leadership of the revolution then formed a new government on 22 February 2014, with Arseniy Yatsenyuk as the prime minister. However, the new government largely ignored the far right elements of the protestors, who were the main perpetrators of the violence that occurred.

On 1 March 2014, the new government ordered the far right factions to disarm themselves and to either integrate with the Armed Forces of Ukraine or to become normal political parties. Large groups of rioters were still occupying parts of Kiev by then, and were mainly part of the Right Sector and Svoboda parties, led by Dmytro Yarosh and Oleh Tyahnybok, respectively. The pair of leaders decided to unite their parties with several smaller far right groups, forming a coalition known as the Ukrainian National Revolutionary Front (UNRF), on 2 March 2014. They refused the government's orders, which then began to deploy police officers to parts of the city that were under control of the UNRF.

The coup[]

Ukrainian National Guards in Kiev — Ukrainian national guards in front of the parliament building.

On March 3, 2014, several dozen members of the UNRF stormed the Verkhovna Rada building, where the new government was headquartered. They quickly took control of the building and disarmed the security guards there. A larger crowd of rioters gathered in front of the building, armed with weapons stolen from police in the aftermath of the Euromaidan. The recently-formed Ukrainian National Guard was deployed by orders of Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, who was not in the Verkhovna Rada building at the time. The National Guard included many radicals, though, and many of its personnel were supportive of the UNRF. When it was deployed, the Guard clashed with the UNRF rioters outside the building between 15:00 and 17:00 on March 3. Many of the Guard's members defected to the ranks of the UNRF. Following the clashes, a total of five soldiers were killed, while the UNRF lost eight members killed.

The National Guard ultimately retreated around 19:45 that evening, since most of its members no longer wanted to fight. Prime Minister Yatsenyuk arrived to negotiate with the UNRF, but they arrested him after he arrived. The leader of the UNRF, Tyahnybok, declared himself the new President of Ukraine. Yatsenyuk then resigned as the prime minister and signed a document stating the Tyahnybok would take his place. A radical member of the new government, Oleksandr Turchynov (who was the acting President of Ukraine) agreed to cooperate with UNRF. He was named the Prime Minister of Ukraine by Tyahnybok, while Dmytro Yarosh, the Right Sector leader, became the Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine.

Aftermath[]

Immediate[]

Oleh Tyahnybok September 2014 — Oleh Tyahnybok, the new President of Ukraine.

A new government was formed on March 5, under Prime Minister Turchynov, including mostly former members of the Yatsenyuk government. The new regime remained officially a unitary republic as the country previously was, however, President Tyahnybok declared a state of emergency and initiated martial law. As part of this, many political parties were put under heavy pressure to follow the government for the sake of "public safety and security". Rallies against the government were limited through the martial law, which increased following the Crimean status referendum, which resulted in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea becoming part of Russia. Parliamentary and presidential elections were suspended by the government until the crisis was solved. Parliamentary elections occurred in July 2015, with a narrow UNRF success.

On March 16, Crimea voted to leave Ukraine and join Russia. The new Turchynov government in Kiev refused to recognize this, and began deploying the Ukrainian military near the Crimean border. Later that year, in May 2014, two eastern Ukrainian regions, Donetsk and Lugansk, also voted to become independent states. Tyahnybok ordered the military to deploy and take them by force, which resulted in the outbreak of the War in Donbass.

Long term[]

The UNRF-led government made a large series of reforms of the Ukrainian state. Shortly after rising to power, on 11 March 2014, the new president passed a declaration giving the country the official name of "Ukrainian State" (similarly to how Russia is called the "Russian Federation"). On 16 June 2014, the Verkhovna Rada approved a bill that made a new test for civil servants on the Ukrainian language, requiring Ukrainian fluency to hold a public office. In October 2014, many of the country's regional governors were sacked due to having mafia connections and replaced. Over the course of the final months of 2014, several hundred other corrupt officials were "purged" from the government. The armed forces and the interior ministry were reformed. The Military Prosecutor's office created a "corruption hotline" to report cases of corruption within the military, resulting in dozens of military officers being investigated for corruption since 2014.

The reforms resulted in more approval of the new government from the Ukrainian population, but polls still showed mixed results as of 2015. Western political analysts agree that these reforms were the main reason for the UNRF's narrow victory as the top party in the Verkhovna Rada from the 2015 Ukrainian parliamentary election, held on 15 July 2015. Nonetheless, many of them criticized it for being totalitarian, with many Western governments condemning the March coup d'etat. Meanwhile, Russian politicians have called the government "fascist" and "Neo Nazi".

International reactions[]

Akitsu - On March 4th, 2014 Prime Minister Toru Fujiwara condemned the coup, calling it an "affront to freedom and democracy". He called on the fascists to immediately relinquish power. When no response was received by March 5th, all diplomatic personnel were evacuated from Ukraine and all diplomatic ties between Akitsu and Ukraine were cut. On March 6th, 2014, Toru Fujiawara announced that Akitsu would not recognize the new government of Ukraine.
Congo - President Joseph Kabila did not make any official statements on the event, but several of the main democratic opposition groups in the URC condemned the coup. Ukraine and the Congo maintain normal diplomatic relations.
Iraq - The King of Iraq, Sharif I, condemned the coup in Kiev as "fascist aggression" and refused to deal with the new government. However, the Iraqi Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs reestablished normal relations with Ukraine in July 2014. Ukrainian forces stationed in Iraq as part of NATO's international force were withdrawn at the request of the King of Iraq as a form of protest, and returned to Ukraine in May 2014.