The Kremlin has avoided the word “war” since it announced the invasion of Ukraine at the end of February. Instead, Vladimir Putin called this a “special military operation”.
There was speculation ahead of “Victory Day” earlier this month, when Russia commemorates the end of the Second World War, that this might be used as an opportunity to formally declare war.
But this fell flat, with some commentators suggesting doing so could have signalled to Russian citizens that the “operation” was not going to plan.
Moscow’s political elite has now gone one step further, insisting that Russia is, in fact, working to “save the world” from a Third World War.
Communist Party MP Dmitry Novikov claimed on Channel One Russia, a state-run broadcaster, today, on May 26, that his country was “leading” anti-war efforts.
He, translated by Francis Scarr of the BBC, said: “We need to realise that by fighting for the dismantling of a Nazi regime, we are acting by and large as the leaders of a global anti-war movement.”
Here, the politician echoed Putin’s declaration at the beginning of the invasion that Russia intended to “de-Nazify”, as well as to “de-militarise” Ukraine.
Novikov stated: “We are trying to save the world from a Third World War.”
He added there was “nothing more, nothing less” to Russia’s position.
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@thevenetiandoge noted the video looked like something from a “clown world”.
@ntcoding also joked: “Am I hallucinating? No, I’m just watching clips of Russian TV.”
Journalist Otto English said this was not the first time the Russian state has produced propaganda which runs contrary to its actions.
He wrote in a post on Twitter: “During the Cold War they made the same claim.”
Other guests on Russian state TV have done the opposite of Novikov and ramped up the language around their country’s invasion of Ukraine.
One, Orthodox tycoon Konstantin Malofeyev, even said in April that the “special military operation” was, in fact, a “holy war”, which was being waged in Ukraine against “satanists” and “pagans”.
Earlier this week, the Ukrainian Defence Ministry said Russia had entered a new phase in its attack of their country, one which it described as more brutal than the last.