Putin suddenly talks about “ending the war”

Created: 12/24/2022, 1:24 p.m

By: Daniel Dillman

For the first time, Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken of a “war” in the Ukraine conflict.

His spokesman will then speak.

Update from Friday, December 23, 12:30 p.m .:

Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov commented on Vladimir Putin’s words at a press conference.

The fact that the Russian president wants to “end the war” does not mean that Russia is ready to negotiate with Ukraine.

Rather, Putin wanted to express that they wanted to "successfully end the military special operation".

Unlike Putin, Peskov avoided the term "war".

First report from Friday, December 23, 8:30 a.m.:

Moscow – For the first time since hostilities began, Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the Ukraine war as what it is.

On Thursday evening (December 22), Putin said at an impromptu press conference: "Our goal is not to further turn the flywheel of the military conflict, but to end the war." Up to this point, the Kremlin chief had been consistent in taking up arms against Ukraine referred to as "military special operations".

Since March 2022, the media in Russia has been officially banned from describing the Ukraine conflict as a war.

By law, the Russian authorities had made the use of the terms "war" and "invasion" a punishable offense.

The censorship is not limited to the Ukraine war, but affects every deployment of Russian armed forces.

President Putin personally signed the law.

Vladimir Putin speaks of war and thus violates the law

Now, however, the Russian president himself appears to have violated this law.

An opposition politician from Saint Petersburg took this as an opportunity to file a complaint against Putin.

The President is guilty of discrediting the army.

"He called the war war," local MP Nikita Yuferev tweeted late Thursday evening.

Thousands of people in Russia have already been sentenced for the same crime.

Yuferev says he has lodged a complaint with Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev and Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov.

Vladimir Putin breaks his silence and now calls Russia's invasion of Ukraine a "war".

© SERGEI GUNEYEV/AFP

War against Russia has been raging in Ukraine for over 300 days.

After initial successes, the Russian armed forces have to accept increasing losses.

In view of Russia's high losses, Vladimir Putin's rhetorical change could indicate a rethink in the Kremlin.

Pictures of the Ukraine war: great horror and small moments of happiness

View photo gallery

Irrespective of this, Putin hardly has to fear any legal consequences even for the word war.

Several propagandists from the Kremlin-controlled state TV had spoken of a war in the past without being legally prosecuted.

Even when Anton Krassowski, then director of broadcasting at the Kremlin broadcaster RT, demanded that Ukrainian children be burned or drowned, the judiciary did not find any criminal offense.

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Vladimir Putin: High treason against Russia?

Yuferev himself, on the other hand, has already been sentenced to a fine.

The local politician was convicted of discrediting the Russian army.

Previously, together with other members of the city parliament in Saint Petersburg, he had called on the Russian state parliament, the Duma, to charge Putin with high treason because of the war in Ukraine.

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