MOSCOW—Russian state news outlets have begun airing reports casting the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong as a U.S.-organized plot, echoing previous Russian coverage of similar demonstrations that have cropped up far closer to home.

The coverage reflected the Kremlin's contention that pro-democracy protests in Moscow and Kiev in recent years amounted to Western schemes designed to undermine the Russian government, as opposed to bona fide outpourings of popular discontent.

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