Fear of another Green Movement influences perceptions of Ukraine
Some Iranian conservatives believe that what's happening in Ukraine is similar to what happened in the 2009 Green Movement protests in Iran, but these allegations are rejected by activists and Reformists.
TEHRAN, Iran — Much of the Iranian reaction to the events in Ukraine can be viewed through the lens of the 2009 post-election uprising and its immediate crackdown, even dividing the media and officials along those lines.
“Changing the name of the square in Kiev, capital of Ukraine, from ‘independence’ to ‘euro’ is a clear sign that this movement, supported by the United States and Europe, is pushing Ukraine away from independence toward dependency,” said Maj. Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi, the chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces.
Last week, Kayhan newspaper, which is managed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s representative, Hossein Shariatmadari, published an editorial in which the crisis in Ukraine was described as the conflict between the Kremlin and the “enemy” of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The editorial's author, Sadollah Zarei, a theoretician who works for the Iran Revolutionary Guard, described the enemy as “the West,” but did not elaborate.
