Russia insists that it is not at 'war' in Ukraine, instead referring to its violent campaign as a 'special military operation.'
, Russians now face up to 15 years in prison if they spread “fake” reports and call the conflict what it is: a “war” and “invasion.”
“When we see massed armoured formations being destroyed by anti-tank missiles, when we see fighter jets and attack helicopters in the sky, we’re so far past the line of whether this is a war or not,” he said from Toronto. “We refer to these events as wars, because we now wars when we see them, but there are domestic, political and sometimes legal reasons as to why the states waging them refuse to use that word.
“There is Russian memory and legend about just how horrible war is for Russia and for all people,” Sayle said. “The word ‘war’ has so much baggage attached to it.” Sayle gives the “long and gruelling” Vietnam War as another example. More than two million American men were drafted during the bloody conflict, yet no formal declaration of war was ever made.