Russia admitted for the first time that Ukraine’s “special military operation” was a “de facto” war, while blaming the West for the escalation and accusing Ukraine of occupying Russian territory.
Dmitry Peskov, President Vladimir Putin’s chief spokesman, was the first senior Russian official to admit that the country was at war, saying the nature of the conflict had changed since Western countries began supplying weapons to Ukraine. Peskov responded to internal comments about his remarks on Friday and later clarified his position, acknowledging that the government was in a “de facto” state of war, but that the country’s invasion of Ukraine remained “statutory.” He said the legal position remains unchanged. special military operations.
The semantics of the conflict – whether Moscow calls its invasion a war or not – matters little to those fighting on the front lines or bombed domestically, but such developments , would appear to be important to the Kremlin observer’s intent to infer the government’s attitude and intentions. The Russians.
President Putin’s admission that Russia is indeed at war may be significant, days after he rubber-stamped another six years in power in the country’s “elections.” Indeed, another first immediately following the vote was the Russian leader naming his deceased former critic and rival Alexi Navalny for the first time in many years, perhaps making Putin more comfortable with his position. It may indicate that he has feelings.
Peskov Said:
“We are at war. Yes, it started as a special military operation, but as soon as this company was established there, the whole Western world began to participate in this on the side of Ukraine, this is a war for us. I am convinced of this. And everyone needs to understand this.”
Russia now has record high daily casualties in Ukraine, UK Defense Intelligence Agency sayshttps://t.co/ClIMRoQGvg
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) March 5, 2024
In this respect, Russia appears to be coming to grips with the reality that it is definitely at war, but in other respects it continues to stick to its ideological guns. Indeed, Peskov accused Ukrainians living in Ukraine of occupying Russian territory, urging: state Moscow will aim for “territorial liberation.”
The claim is that Russia held a referendum before annexing four regions of Ukraine (Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia) in 2022, stating that these regions are legally fully part of Russia itself. It comes from what was declared.I acted on this belief during last week’s election. it is claimed According to some Western media reports, soldiers went door-to-door in Russian-occupied territories with ballot boxes and encouraged residents to vote.
The problem for Russia is that while it invaded large swathes of these four regions, it was unable to occupy all of the territory, even though it declared itself legitimate Russia. Moscow therefore claims that people living in these regions need to be “protected” from Ukraine.
Russia cannot be allowed to win ‘existential’ war in Ukraine, ‘we must not be weak’, thunders French President Emmanuel Macron https://t.co/lewYqcTJpX
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) March 15, 2024
Russia is saying for the first time that it is at “war”, but this is not the first time it has accused Western countries of starting a war with Moscow. Still, much of Russia’s external messaging energy to Western leaders is focused on discouraging NATO countries from continuing to provide aid or new levels of lethality. ing.
While these threats can take on an ominous and alarming dimension, such as constant talk of nuclear war from the Kremlin, the latest messages are grounded in history lessons and warnings against the humiliation of failure. Threatening Europe’s continued involvement in Russia’s “special military operations” in Ukraine would bring Europe a historic complete defeat, Vasily Nebenzia, the Russian diplomat at the United Nations, accused 19th century French leader Napoleon Bonaparte of He mentioned the disastrous invasion of Russia.
He said:
When planning the deployment of regular forces, Paris needs to remember something important. This means that the regular army is seen as a legitimate and even priority objective for our military. Perhaps it’s time to honestly answer the question: what is more valuable to you: the life and well-being of your own people, or a fantasy dream of weakening Russia?
By the way, today literally marks the 210th anniversary of the Russian army’s entry into Paris, which marked the failure of France’s previous attempt to unify Europe on anti-Russian grounds. I would advise you and the German people not to forget the lessons of history. [regret your actions] later.
This rhetoric is undoubtedly aimed at French President Emmanuel Macron, who started the Ukraine war in a conciliatory mood in 2022 and has put a lot of effort into de-escalating tensions with Putin, to no avail. . Recently, Mr. Macron has reinvented his position as an ultra-hardliner on Russia, going far further than any other NATO leader in calling for direct involvement of Western forces in the Ukraine war.
Italy warns that sending NATO troops to Ukraine could lead to ‘World War III’, accuses Macron of using conflict for political purposeshttps://t.co/SBKHewLyy4
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) March 18, 2024
