The United States urged Vladimir Putin on Friday to recognize the reality of the conflict in Ukraine and withdraw his troops, after the Russian president used the word “war”, which is banned in Russia, at a press conference.
Launched on February 24, the Russian invasion of Ukraine is officially called a “special military operation” in Russia.
Russian authorities have introduced a law providing for severe prison terms for any publication of information about the Russian military deemed “false” and several people have been sentenced, particularly after they publicly called the conflict a “war”.
However, during a press conference on Thursday, Vladimir Putin used this word, assuring that he wants 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’ is an unprovoked and unjustified war against Ukraine,” a US State Department spokesman said.
“In the end, after 300 days, Putin called the war by its name,” he added, urging Putin “as the next step to acknowledge reality” to “end this war by withdrawing his troops from Ukraine.”
The State Department recalled that “Russia’s aggression against the sovereignty of its neighbor caused death, destruction and displacement of populations”, whatever the terminology used by Putin.
Nikita Iouferev, a Russian municipal deputy, announced Thursday night that he has filed a complaint against President Vladimir Putin, whom he accused of spreading “false information” by using the word “war” to describe the operation in Ukraine.
This request has little chance of success, especially since the text of the elected local contains several factual errors, such as the date of Putin’s speech or the president’s own name, written in a feminine form, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
The military offensive launched on February 24 by Russia in Ukraine has already caused the flight of more than 14 million people -6.5 million internally displaced persons and more than 7.8 million to European countries-, according to the most recent data. of the UN, which classifies this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945).
Right now, 17.7 million Ukrainians need humanitarian aid and 9.3 million need food aid and shelter.
The Russian invasion – justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin as the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by the wider international community, which has responded by sending arms to Ukraine and imposing them on Russia in political and economic sanctions.
Source: TSF
