Freudian mistake? Even before the start of the invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin (70) did not talk about an impending war. Since the invasion of the southern former Soviet Republic, Putin has used the euphemism “military special operation”.
After nearly 10 months of war, during which Putin consistently called the ruthless campaign of conquest in Ukraine a special operation, the Kremlin boss spoke of a “war” for the first time. This while opponents of the war in Russia are being prosecuted for using the term.
“etu voinu”
“Our goal is not to keep turning this flywheel of a military conflict, but on the contrary to end this war,” Putin said on Thursday. “That’s what we’re aiming for,” Putin replied to a journalist’s question during a televised press conference after a government meeting.
You can clearly hear Putin say “this war”, “эту войну” (phonetic: etu vajnu). The Russian newspaper “Izvestia” quotes Putin uncensored. Most Russian media, on the other hand, change the term to “this conflict” with self-censorship.
Lots of paraphrases for death and destruction
Putin has used many paraphrases to justify the deaths of tens of thousands and horrific destruction in Ukraine. He spoke alternately of “denazification” and “liberation”.
Although the invasion of Kiev at the beginning of the war failed, Putin has always denied that he wanted to conquer the country and overthrow the government. Now the Russian head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces has declared for the first time that the military operations in Ukraine are in fact a war.
“War” is considered fake news
After the invasion of Ukraine and the outbreak of anti-war protests in Russia, the authorities have made it mandatory to speak only of a “special military operation” in Ukraine. Draconian punishments banned the spread of fake news. That would also discredit the armed forces. It is therefore a criminal offense to describe the war as “war”.
According to reports, about 5,000 people have been charged in Russia since October as a result of this tightening of the law. Many were fined heavily, in some 100 cases up to 15 years in prison – a term that the Russian head of state has now coined.