I see a lot of people parroting Russian propaganda about democratically elected Yanukovitch. Yes, he was democratically elected, but so what? Hitler was also democratically elected. Ukrainians elected Yanukovitch and Ukrainians overthrew him. That's also democracy, literally. You can call that a coup or whatever you like it.
Also, what you call a coup did not install a new government. The parliament was still the same. All MPs who didn't flee remained MPs. Including from Yanukovitch's party and including openly pro-Russian ones.
Finally, a new president was _elected_ very shortly (given the circumstances).
No. NSDAP did not win once in free elections. He got into power only after subverting the election system in a couple of ways.
> That's also democracy, literally.
Pogroms are also democracy, literally. The majority decided that Jews ate Christian babies, and acted to end the great evil.
When we, in the so-called West that I also feel a part of, say "democracy" - we mean also the "rule of law". The idea that you can do anything as long as 50% + 1 person agrees to it is not democracy in the Western sense.
> Also, what you call a coup did not install a new government.
That only means the coup failed, not that it didn't take place.
> The parliament was still the same. All MPs who didn't flee remained MPs.
If enough MPs flee to make it impossible to govern, the Parliament should dissolve itself. Instead, it chose to remove the President using unconstitutional means. I don't know what else that Parliament did, but whatever it was, it could have waited until the elections, which would happen quickly after dissolution.
> Finally, a new president was _elected_ very shortly (given the circumstances).
Sure. Nobody says otherwise. The problem is the time between the riots and new elections. The riots that cost more than a hundred dead are also a problem. In democracy that upholds the rule of law, fighting and killing 18 police officers is a crime, no matter how morally justified it was.
Like the GP, I believe Putin is bad and Russia is an aggressor, and all of that. This war is wrong and Ukrainians are brave people. However, the Euromaidan was not a win for democracy. It was not the right thing to do in a democratic country. Here in Poland we managed to peacefully replace the communists in '89-'91. Nobody died back then. No riots happened. No violence broke out. Precisely because we aspired for democracy, even if the other side had blood of workers on their hands. If we could do that peacefully, then Ukrainians could have ousted Yanukovych without 100 people dying, and more than a thousand people getting seriously wounded. Instead, they chose to resort to violence.
I'm not pro-Russia. It would be suicidal for me to be pro-Russia. I'm not saying the current or previous governments of Ukraine are illegitimate. All I'm saying is that Euromaidan is not something anyone should be proud of. The goals do not justify the means. Killing is a crime. Violence is bad. Just because the violence was done in the name of anti-Russia sentiment does not make it less bad.
Also, what you call a coup did not install a new government. The parliament was still the same. All MPs who didn't flee remained MPs. Including from Yanukovitch's party and including openly pro-Russian ones.
Finally, a new president was _elected_ very shortly (given the circumstances).