Russia is “in a state of war”

The press secretary of the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, said that Russia is “in a state of war” and made the statement that the “main thing” for Russia is the occupation of the territories now controlled by Ukraine in four Ukrainian regions, the annexation of which was previously announced by Moscow.

Officially, President Vladimir Putin and other representatives of the authorities call the Russian invasion of Ukraine a “special military operation”, and for designating it as a “war”, people were even fined under the article on the so-called discrediting of the army. However, in an interview with Arguments and Facts, Peskov stated: “Yes, it started as a special military operation, but as soon as this group was formed, when the collective West became a participant on the side of Ukraine, for us it has already become a war. I am convinced of this”. He also added that all citizens of Russia must understand this “for their internal mobilization.”

Peskov did not clarify whether he was speaking on behalf of himself or on behalf of Vladimir Putin. Later, he clarified that he did not mean “legal changes”, noting that “de jure” it was a special military operation, and “de facto” it turned into a war. At the same time, there is no concept of “special military operation” in Russian legislation.

Peskov referred to Putin, justifying the need to occupy the entire territory of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. According to him, it is now “occupied by the Kyiv regime”. Peskov also said that Russia “cannot allow the existence of a state on its borders” that seeks to “take Crimea” – that is, to restore its territorial integrity within internationally recognized borders.

In the same interview, Peskov said that Russia “does not wait” for Russian citizens who have gone abroad, who “took the position of the enemy of their country”, and if they fight against Russian troops with weapons in their hands, they will be “destroyed”. Here he repeated the words of Putin, who declared that “traitors” will be killed, even though Russia does not have the death penalty.

• Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. Fierce battles are taking place on the extended front, the total number of killed and wounded servicemen on both sides is estimated to be hundreds of thousands, thousands of Ukrainian civilians were also killed, and residents of Russia’s border regions are also dying.
• After the Second World War, there were no cases of official declaration of war by one state against another. Neither Russia nor Ukraine officially declared war. Martial law has also not been introduced in Russia (however, the mobilization regime continues to operate, due to which, in particular, the mobilized cannot leave the army). As a rule, Putin continues to call military actions in Ukraine “SVO”, but also uses the word “war”.
• Russia announced the annexation of four Ukrainian regions in the fall of 2022 (Krym and Sevastopol were also annexed earlier). At the same time, none of them is fully controlled by Russian troops. Two regional centers of these regions – Kherson and Zaporozhye – are under the control of Ukraine.