Propagandists continue to resort to conspiracy theories to justify Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and to explain world events. In particular, they use a conspiracy theory that Britain and France are allegedly orchestrating coups around the world to profit from oligarchs by bribing elites who support a military takeover. Conspiracy theorists claim that the coups are allegedly financed with the money, thugs, and weapons of the aforementioned states. At the same time, democracies are portrayed as vulnerable to corruption, and authoritarianism is presented as a superior and divinely justified type of government.

Adapting the theory to the recent protests in Georgia and Syria, propagandists argue that these protest movements are supposedly the result of external influence, when Western states, through bribery of elites and support for opposition groups, seek to destabilize political regimes in order to achieve their own interests. In Georgia, in particular, conspiracy theorists see the “hand of the EU” through funding for civil society projects. In Syria, Western support for the opposition and rebels can also be interpreted through the prism of this theory as part of a “global strategy of manipulation and coups”.

Russia uses this theory to justify its aggression against Ukraine, claiming that Western powers, through their agents, financial and political interests, are inciting destabilization in Ukraine. This is how they explain, in particular, the events of Euromaidan. Russian propaganda claims that by bribing the elites and supporting the protests, the West supposedly wants to create chaos in Ukraine and uses it as a tool to achieve its own goals. Thus, conspiracy theorists and propagandists justify the Russian invasion of Ukraine, presenting it as protection against the “threat from the West”.

This theory is part of Russian propaganda, which tries to shift the responsibility for aggression onto Western states and their influence. The reality is that Russia is an aggressor that violates international law and the territorial integrity of other states. Protests in Ukraine and other states are the result of internal reasons, such as the political and economic situation, and not external incitement. Western states, European and international institutions, on the contrary, support Ukraine in its right to self-determination and sovereignty.