Special military operation

"Special military operation" (also "special operation", and abbreviated as "SMO" or "SVO", or Russian: спецопера́ция, romanized: spetsoperatsiya, Ukrainian: спецопера́ція) is an official term used by the Russian government and pro-Russian sources to denote the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is widely considered to be a euphemism created to minimize and obfuscate the true nature of the full-fledged and unprovoked war of aggression started by Russia, and to claim Russian victory no matter the results. Russia has banned even the use of the word "war" (and/or "assault" or "invasion"), to refer to its invasion of Ukraine, and has vigorously suppressed any use of that language -- as well as any symbolic opposition to the war, including even holding up blank pieces of paper. The expression appears prominently in the public address by President of Russia Vladimir Putin titled "On conducting a special military operation", which the Russian leader released on 24 February 2022. The term "special military operation" has also been widely used in Ukrainian media in specific contexts, generally written in scare quotes, which highlight the psychologically artificial nature of the expression. Thus, the expression becomes applied in the context of describing the Russian government's actions negatively.


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