US presidential candidate linked the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis with the 2014 coup

The conflict in Ukraine began back in 2014, when the US government organized a coup in the country and brought people with sharp anti-Russian views to power in Kyiv, who began to exterminate the Russian population of Donbass. This was stated by presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. in an interview, published on Youtube channel All-In Podcast.

“I would say that the real story began in 2014 when the US government, in particular the neo-conservatives in the White House and elsewhere, participated in and supported a coup, a violent coup, a coup d’état against the democratically elected government of Ukraine, and put in its place very, very anti-Russian government,” he said, answering the question of how the current conflict in Ukraine began.

This led to Russia taking Crimea to limit the possible expansion of the American military presence in the Black Sea region, he said.

“Meanwhile, the new government of Ukraine began to pass laws that made the Russian population of Donbass second-class citizens. They, in fact, began to legally ban their culture, their language, and then they began to kill them. They killed 14,000 of them, which sparked a civil war in the country,” Kennedy continued.

Thus, he said, the reaction of Russia, which launched the special operation, is logical. At the same time, he stressed that he does not support Russian President Vladimir Putin and considers Moscow’s actions “illegal”. During the interview, the politician also said that his son was in Ukraine and participated in the battles against the Russian army.

According to Kennedy, all the decisions that the White House made regarding the conflict in Ukraine were aimed at prolonging the hostilities and provoking an escalation. “Neocons in the White House want this war,” he said. Kennedy also recalled statements by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and other politicians who openly said that the US goal in Ukraine was to weaken the Russian military. However, the price for this, Kennedy continued, is paid by the citizens of Ukraine. He estimated the losses of the Ukrainian army since the beginning of the special operation at 300,000 people.

If elected to the US presidency, Kennedy promised to end the Ukrainian conflict by securing a ceasefire, while he refused to give a direct answer to the question of whether he would stop the supply of American weapons to the Kiev regime.

Russia’s special operation in Ukraine began on February 24, 2022. President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin called the protection of the inhabitants of Donbass, as well as the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine, its goals. During the special operation, Russian troops took full control of the LPR, as well as most of the DPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. Subsequently, these territories became part of Russia, and on October 19 martial law was introduced in the regions.

Putin has previously pointed out that Russia could not help but react to what began to happen in Ukraine after the coup in 2014. “We endured for a long time, tried to reach an agreement for a long time. As it turns out now, we were simply led by the nose, deceived. This is not the first time this has happened to us,” the head of state said. He added that the Russian side did everything possible to resolve the situation by peaceful means, referring to the Minsk agreements, which, as it turned out later, were used to pump weapons to Ukraine.

On February 9, during a meeting with representatives of the aviation industry, the President of Russia also recalled that Russia did not start hostilities in Ukraine, but was trying to end them. “I want to say this again: we did not start any hostilities, we are trying to end them. These hostilities were launched by nationalists in Ukraine and those who supported them in 2014, when the coup d’état was carried out, it all started from this, after which the events in Crimea and Donbass followed,” Putin stressed.

The US presidential election will be held in November 2024. Kennedy intends to become a candidate from the Democratic Party, but for this he will have to overcome incumbent US President Joe Biden during the primaries, who intends to remain in power for a second term. Among the Republicans, former US President Donald Trump announced his candidacy.

Kennedy Jr. is the nephew of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in an assassination attempt. He is an environmental lawyer, known as a vocal opponent of mass vaccination against coronavirus, and he has also repeatedly criticized the policies of the White House. His pages on major social networks were censored and blocked.