Putin FINALLY calls Ukraine invasion a WAR for first time in decade: Opposition figures suggest Vladimir should be jailed for breaking his own law

Vladimir Putin ended up calling his brutal invasion of Ukraine a “war”, breaking his own law against using the word.

Previously, the Russian tyrant always referred to the bloody 10-month conflict as a “military special operation” and banned any reference to the true nature of his barbaric campaign.

Thousands of Russians have been fined, some jailed and others fined, for calling the invasion a “war” – and now opposition leaders are demanding that Putin be given the same treatment.

Speaking to journalists, Putin said: “Our goal is not to unwind this flywheel of a military conflict, but to end this war.

Click here to watch Putin’s thugs raid Ukrainian orphanages to confiscate children

“This is what we strive for and what we will strive for.”

His comments appear to have a desire to end the conflict, but Ukraine and its Russian enemies fear it is a ruse.

Instead, they want him prosecuted for violating his own law, which prohibits Russians from using the word.

Petersburg politician Nikita Yuferev officially asked the Russian Prosecutor General and the Ministry of Internal Affairs to open a criminal case against Putin for spreading “military forgeries”.

“Vladimir Putin called the war a war and said our goal is to end this war,” he said.

“Several thousand people have already been convicted for such words about the war.”

The exiled Putin enemy Mikhail Khodorkovsky – once Russia’s richest man – mr. Yuferov’s claim on Twitter emphasized.

Putin has not gone through the formal legal mechanisms to declare war on Ukraine — or on NATO, which he and his officials claim Russia is fighting.

This may serve not to frighten the Russians and to prevent domestic allegations of belligerence against him.

The law has been used to stifle dissent, with many enemies fleeing abroad rather than risk imprisonment in Russia.

Instead, the Russian invasion of Ukraine was called a “military special operation.”

Ivan Drobotov – a close ally of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny – also appealed to the authorities over Putin’s use of the word war.

Petersburg politician Nikita Yuferev (pictured) has officially asked the Russian Prosecutor General and the Ministry of Internal Affairs to open criminal proceedings against Putin

Ivan Drobotov – a close ally of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny – also appealed to authorities over Putin’s use of the word war

He said: “On December 22, 2022 at around 19:00, the citizen Putin VV, in his official position, publicly, under the guise of reliable reports, deliberately spread false information, the data on the deployment of the armed forces of the Russian Federation.

In particular, he said during a meeting with the media: “Our goal is not to turn this flywheel of a military conflict, but on the contrary, to end this war, we strive and we will strive.”

“Given that false information was expressed during a meeting with the media that spread it, the consequences can be considered very serious.

“In light of the foregoing, I call on you to initiate criminal proceedings against Putin VV.”

The maximum penalty for the crime is ten years in prison.

It is impossible that Russian prosecutors or courts – which are in the hands of Putin – will open such a case against him, but his absurd law is now clearly messed up after he openly used the word “war”.

Opposition leader Ilya Yashin was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison this month after denouncing war atrocities committed by the Russian military in Bucha, Ukraine.

This month, opposition leader Ilya Yashin (pictured) was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison after he condemned the atrocities committed by the Russian army in Bucha.

Alexei Gorinov was sentenced to seven years in prison for calling for a minute’s silence to commemorate the victims of the war

Alexei Gorinof was sentenced to seven years in prison for calling for a minute’s silence to commemorate the victims of the war.

Adding to the confusion in Russia, Western officials said today that Putin has so crippled the military and economy that it could take 30 years to recover.

More than 100,000 Russian soldiers have died in Ukraine, while Russia spends a quarter of its annual budget on the conflict.

Kiev destroyed half of Russia’s tanks, while Moscow quickly exhausted its supply of shells, rockets and ammunition.

A senior British government source told the Times that it could take between 20 and 30 years for Russia to regain its economic and military strength.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the US this week and said the money given to his country by Western countries was an “investment” and called on allies to pledge more military support to fend off the Russian threat .

“Your money is not charity. It is an investment in global security and democracy,” he said.

US President Joe Biden has agreed to provide Ukraine with Patriot air defense systems that will allow Kiev to shoot down ballistic and cruise missiles.

He refused to approve the donation of the Atacms surface-to-surface missile system, which can hit targets up to 300 kilometers away. He also pointed out that NATO allies were not comfortable giving Ukraine an offensive weapon that could hit Russian territory.

Ukrainian forces believe Putin may respond to setbacks in the east and south by attacking Kiev around the anniversary of his invasion in February.

Putin traveled to Minsk this week to meet with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. There are fears that Russia could use trains to move troops into Belarus in preparation for another attack on Kiev.

A destroyed Russian tank and armored personnel carriers on the outskirts of Izyum in eastern Ukraine on September 14

A Ukrainian defense source told The Times: “We understand they will announce military exercises again in January as a pretext to significantly increase the number of Russian troops and military equipment in Belarus.

But Lukashenko makes a big mistake. By allowing Russian troops into his territory, he threatens himself even more than Ukraine.”

President Zelensky received a standing ovation from members of Congress during his triumphant visit to the United States this week when he scooped a big prize in the form of Biden’s $2 billion Patriot Scheme.

The US has previously sent Patriot batteries to NATO allies, including Poland, to bolster their defenses and other weapons systems into Ukraine to help counter the Russian invasion.

In recent years, the US has deployed Patriot missiles in Saudi Arabia and Iraq to counter the Iranian threat, and in the Pacific to deter North Korea.

Overall, more than a dozen US allies, including Germany, Japan and Israel, have also bought the system.

In recent months, the United States has sent the defensive medium-range missile system National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System to Ukraine.

This gave the country about a third of its stockpile of Javelin anti-tank missiles and a third of its anti-aircraft missile arsenal, the Financial Times reports.

Ukrainian soldiers fired a pion artillery system at Russian positions near Bakhmut in Ukraine this month

The US State Department said that in the run-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and after war broke out in February, the US had approved “third-party transfers” from 14 NATO allies and close partners to remove US-made equipment from their remove stock. liver. for use by the Ukrainian armed forces.

Deliveries to date include nearly 12,000 anti-tank systems of all types, more than 1,550 anti-aircraft missiles, radar, night vision goggles, machine guns, rifles, ammunition and body armor.

Last month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN that the US was “very focused” on providing Ukraine with air defense systems, adding: “And not just us, many other countries.

“We are working to ensure that Ukrainians get these systems as quickly as possible, but also as effectively as possible, that they are trained on how to maintain them and that everything has to fit together. and it is.

“We have a very thoughtful process … that meets regularly to make sure that Ukrainians get what they need, when they need it.”

On Tuesday, President Zelenskyy visited the Eastern Front town of Bakhmut, which is now the epicenter of fighting in Russia’s nearly decade-long invasion of Ukraine.

He met with military officials and presented awards to Ukrainian soldiers who held off a bitter month-long Russian campaign for the city.