Together with the “special military operation” or even the “Ukrainian crisis”, Russian propaganda deliberately hides its actions and avoids responsibility. In order not to constantly resort to official statements that have become part of state rhetoric, propagandists use a more informal definition of war - “conflict”.

This term appeared back in 2014, when Russia began to call the war in Ukraine, the annexation of Crimea and the seizure of Donbas and Luhansk region a “conflict”. Despite numerous evidence of Russia's involvement in the war, Russia has not officially acknowledged the fact of its invasion of Ukraine. Therefore, it allegedly called it a “conflict” or the conduct of “military operations” or a “civil war”.

Now and then, these terms are intended to cover up the bloody war that Putin and the Russian army are waging, having received the support of the Russian people with appropriate statements or silence. The term “conflict” is associated with some kind of diplomatic process, with a situation that can be resolved through negotiations, agreements, etc. The annexation of territories and subsequently a large-scale attack on the territory of Ukraine, the killing of Ukrainian civilians, the destruction of Ukrainian villages, cities and towns, the seizure of territories is not a manifestation of diplomacy, but an example of waging a barbaric war, the destruction of the Ukrainian people. Such actions are in no way subject to negotiations and agreements and further achievements of “peace”. In the “special military operation”, “Ukrainian crisis” and “conflict”, there is a clear definition that Russian propaganda is trying to avoid by all means – war.

This is the twelfth text for the new section “Newspeak”, which Detector Media launched as part of the “Disinformation Chronicles” project. In it, we will tell and explain new lexemes used by Russian propaganda to distort reality.