Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
He specifically names France, Germany and Poland as countries that made the relationship sour.
During a meeting with the heads of international news agencies in June of 2025, Russian President Vladimir Putin talked about a lot of different things.
The situation in the Middle East, his relationship with Donald Trump, on speaking with the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
But he also gave his take on, when the relationship between the West and Russia started to go south
According to Putin, it should be clear to everyone, that things started to go the wrong way in 2014 – the year, Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula, which is internationally recognized as Ukrainian territory.
But Putin does not believe the annexation was the reason.
The coup
Putin accused Western countries of contributing to the then Ukrainian President, Victor Yanukovich, being removed from power.
Yanukovich was a member of the pro-Russian Party of Regions, and Putin described Yanukovich’s removal from power as a “coup”.
According to Reuters, Putin said:
“France, Germany, and Poland, came to Kyiv and, as guarantors, signed a paper of agreements between the opposition and the authorities led by President (Viktor) Yanukovich.
A few days later, the opposition launched a coup. And no one even sneezed, as if nothing had happened.”
Why was Yanukovich removed?
Back in 2012, Ukraine and the EU had negotiated a free trade and association agreement, The Ukrainian parliament even approved finalizing the agreement in 2013.
But Russia put pressure on Ukraine by restricting Ukrainian imports, basically starting a trade war, in order to force Ukraine to not sign the agreement.
A week before the the agreement was to be finalized, Yanukovich suddenly announced he was pulling Ukraine from the agreement.
Instead, he aimed at strengthening the economic ties with Russia.
The Maiden Uprising
The sudden change of heart sparked protests in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, later called “The Maiden Uprising” or “Euromaiden”.
Yanukovich has been accused of using the Ukrainian Special Police to threaten, attack and torture protesters during the protests.
Things escalated hugely in January of 2014, when Yanukovich signed a numer of Anti-Protest Laws.
The first protesters where killed in violent clashes with the police, and during the following month, almost 100 protesters and 13 police officers died in clashes.
In February, Yanukovich and the leaders of the parliamentary opposition in Ukraine signed an agreement to bring about an interim unity government.
The signing was witnessed by Foreign Ministers of Poland, Germany and France. The Russian representative would not sign the agreement.
During the afternoon, police left Kiyv, giving the protesters control of the city, and Yanukovich fled.
“What are the rules?”
Putin went on to ask rhetorically, that we always hear, that we have to live by the rules, but then accused the West of not following that mantra.
Do you write rules for others, but you’re not going to follow anything yourself? Well, who’s going to live like this? That’s where the crisis started,” Putin said according to Reuters.
The Russian President then started talking about how the world order has been a balance of power between the victors since WW2.
“And now one of the winners is gone – the Soviet Union has collapsed. Well, the Westerners began to rewrite these rules for themselves. What are the rules?”
Sources; Reuters, Wikipedia, Encyclopedia Britannica, Open Society Foundations, Le Monde, Barron’s, Atlantic Council
