Russia Regrets Von Der Leyen's Praise of Ukraine's Euromaidan Coup - Kremlin

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Moscow regrets the remarks by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who lauded Ukraine's Euromaidan coup as "10 years of dignity," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen remarks regarding the 10th anniversary of the Euromaidan.

"It's regrettable, since, I think, a violent coup has never been perceived as a celebration in the modern European history," Peskov told reporters.

Dmitry Peskov recalled that a decade ago, the Euromaidan, named after a square in the Ukrainian capital where coup chieftains headquartered, resulted in the overthrow of a legitimate Ukrainian government by those promoting ultra right ideas which gradually escalated into "explicitly Nazi" policies.

"Then, it caused the emergence of such a regime in Kiev that turned out to be dangerous for us, which turned out to be dangerous for part of its people, I mean Russians, and unfortunately continues to in the tragedies that we see every day in Ukraine," Peskov added.

November, 2013, saw a series of protests break out in Ukraine due to the authorities' decision to halt a policy aimed at integrating with the European Union. The unrest quickly turned anti-presidential and anti-governmental, with the country's opposition calling for a national revolution.

More than a hundred people died in clashes between the Ukrainian security forces and the demonstrators. The protests eventually turned into a coup, leading to the ouster of then-President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014.