Defense minister: Nothing surprising or newsworthy in Peskov's 'war' comment
On Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov called the full-scale invasion of Ukraine a "war" rather than a "special military operation" for the first since the conflict started in 2022. Minister of Defense Hanno Pevkur (Reform) said this changes nothing for Estonia or the West.
"For us, it has always been understood that this is Russia's war against Ukraine, there is nothing surprising here. The fact that Russia itself finally admits this /.../ is good to know, but in a substantive sense it changes nothing," Pevkur told ERR on Friday.
"This does not change anything in our behavior or in the behavior of the Western allies. After all, we have treated the situation in Ukraine as military aggression by Russia against Ukraine all along, and therefore there is nothing surprising or newsworthy in this statement," the minister said.
Peskov told the "Argumenty i Fakty" media outlet, which is owned by the Moscow municipal government: "We are at war. Indeed, it started as a special military operation but as soon as a clique was formed and the collective West joined in on Ukraine's side, it turned into war for us."
After Russia launched the full-scale invasion, the Kremlin created new laws which fined and jailed people for using the term "war" rather than "special military operation".
Peskov's comments come after President Vladimir Putin easily won an election last weekend that independent observers said was neither free nor fair, RFE/RL reported.
The vote was the first major election to take place in Russia since Putin launched his full-scale invasion.
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Editor: Mait Ots, Helen Wright