The United States on Friday, December 23 ironically urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to acknowledge the reality of the conflict in Ukraine and withdraw his troops after using the word “war” banned in Russia during the ” a press conference.
The Russian intervention in Ukraine, triggered on February 24, is officially referred to in Russia as a “military special operation”. The Russian authorities have enacted a law providing for severe prison sentences for any publication of information deemed “false” about the Russian army, and several people have been convicted, particularly after publicly labeling the conflict a “war”.
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However, during a press conference on Thursday, Vladimir Putin used the word and assured that he wanted the conflict in Ukraine to end “as soon as possible”. “Since February 24, the United States and the rest of the world have known that the ‘special military operation’ was an unprovoked and unjustified war against Ukraine,” a US State Department spokesman said.
“After 300 days, Putin called the war by its name”
“In the end, after 300 days, Putin called the war by its name,” he added. “As a next step in acknowledging reality, we urge him to end this war by withdrawing his troops from Ukraine.” Ministry of Foreign Affairs, regardless of the terminology used by Vladimir Putin.
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For his part, a Russian local MP, Nikita Iouferev, said Thursday night that he had filed a complaint against President Vladimir Putin, who he accused of spreading “false information” by using the word “war” to describe Russia’s operation in Ukraine. This motion has little chance of success, especially since the local elected official’s text contains several factual errors, such as the date of Vladimir Putin’s speech or the name of the president himself, which was written in the female form after a recapitulation.