Anti-Maidan

The initial participants were in favor of supporting the cabinet of the second Azarov government, President Viktor Yanukovych, and closer ties with Russia.

[15] The same day, it was reported by journalists of Espreso.tv that a Party of Regions organised rally in Kyiv was paying ₴200 to participants via online job postings.

[18] A rally and tent camp action in support of President Viktor Yanukovych and at initiative of the Party of Regions began on 3 December in Mariinskyi park located close by the Verkhovna Rada building (the parliament).

[21][better source needed] Speaking on condition of anonymity to the Kyiv Post, one demonstrator said that participants of the rally are paid ₴300 or more in order to earn money without going to work.

[24] In parliament on 13 December Svoboda leader Oleh Tyahnybok said people on the government payroll in medical, education and other sectors (the so-called "byudzhetnye" sectors) were being bullied into coming to a planned pro-government rally that weekend; Speaker of parliament and Party of Regions member Volodymyr Rybak responded, saying that it is wrong to pressure people and it has to stop.

[25] In a list released by journalist Tatiana Honchenko, a total of 27 trains, each with on average 20 cars had been rented by the Party of Regions for the weekend event to transport supporters from across Ukraine to Kyiv.

[37] Opposition leaders Arseniy Yatseniuk and Ihor Miroshnychenko issued a warning, citing inside information, that authorities were planning to use the large pro-government rally in order to start a civil conflict and justify issuing a state of emergency, which would require the use of Berkut riot police and military to clear European Square and Maidan.

[29][38] Yatsenyuk specifically warned against the use of hired thugs (titushky) who will infiltrate and start to wreak havoc in the pro-European encampment cloaked in either European Union or national colours.

[29] Opposition leader Yuriy Lutsenko, however, called for calm and assured that the pro-government rally will be attended by peaceful, state-paid employees and students.

[29] Oleksandr Yefremov, head of the Party of Regions parliamentary faction reiterated: "This will be an exclusively peaceful demonstration, our people are always easy to get along with ... we will also rely on the police to create a safe buffer between the two rallies".

[39] In an interview by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty with an attendee on the day of the event, the subject (who taught boxing) revealed that he and a group of others were offered ₴1,000 by organisers to instigate a fight with protesters on Maidan.

[40] The Interior Ministry's press service told the Kyiv Post on 13 December that the pro-government rally received permission to have up to 200,000 in attendance.

[47] Further, on the day of the event witnesses reported and photographed 40 military field kitchens serving pro-government supporters in Mariinskyi Park.

[49] Azarov also said the EU had insisted on 'unacceptable conditions' sign the AA, including the introduction of gay marriage and laws protecting sexual minorities.

"The opposition leaders are telling fables when they say that we only have to sign the [association] agreement [with the EU] to start traveling to Europe visa-free the next day.

[58] Interfax-Ukraine reported on 13 January that about ten tents had been set up in the park and metal shields had been installed perpendicular to Hrushevskoho Street, with law enforcement officers standing behind them.

[60] Another rally by supporters of the Party of Regions (planned to bring up to 10,000 attendees) in Mariinskyi park began on 21 January 2014 against an alleged attempted "coup" by the Euromaidan protesters.

[69] A 1 December Communist rally in Donetsk gathered about 200 mostly elderly supporters who chanted: "The union of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus is inevitable".

[70] The following day, Communist Party of Ukraine MP Antonina Khromova made statements at the Donetsk regional council, approving the use of force to remove protesters in Kyiv, which was met with applause.

[71] The Sevastopol city council, on the initiative of the Russian Bloc, opted to appeal to the President and the Government of Ukraine to reorient foreign policy towards Russia and its Customs Union.

[72] The Russian Bloc has also demanded the resignation of Minister of Education Dmytro Tabachnyk, for not preventing students from taking part in the Euromaidan protests.

[73] On 8 December, the "Russian Community of Sevastopol" organisation held a rally in support of Berkut anti-riot troops who made headlines for assaulting students and journalists in Kyiv the week prior.

Leader of the group, Tatiana Ermakova, expressed outrage at the fact that, according to her, protesters provoked and attacked Berkut troops.

[74] The official statement from Russian Community specifically thanked the anti-riot troops for 'protecting us from the fascists', and called the Euromaidan demonstrators "Nazis" and "Banderites".

]as “a top-down initiative with protesters sometimes receiving remuneration for their participation”,[1] alleging that the movement was not organic in nature and was supportive of the authoritarian government of Viktor Yanukovych.

Several news outlets investigated the claims to confirm that by and large, attendees at pro-government rallies did so for financial compensation and not for political reasons, and were not an organic response to the Euromaidan.

Common people there had had few genuine encounters with the democratic world and fell victim to "foreign history: myths about "fascists", "Banderites", "Gayrope", "kike-NATO" and "Pindosia".