Special military operation

[11] The expression appears prominently in the public address by President of Russia Vladimir Putin titled "On conducting a special military operation", released on 24 February 2022.

[5] The use of euphemisms to describe military activities was common in the Soviet Union and in the Russian Federation after the collapse of communist rule prior to the invasion of Ukraine; this includes: In the broader context of international relations, when evaluating the histories of the continents of Africa and North America, the specific labels of the Biafran War as a "police action" and as well as the Korean War as a "police action" have attracted attention over the past several decades.

According to some observers, such as Russian journalist Ksenia Turkova [ru], the purpose of this terminology is mainly to create a perception that war is more benign than it actually is, by softening the wording in official reports and in the media.

[22] Certain internationally distributed news agencies, such as Al Jazeera English (AJE), have also used the term in instances with quotation marks applied and details provided about the war's conduct.

For example, a March 2022 report by AJE stated that the terminology of having a "'special military operation' should be used to describe Moscow’s assault on Ukraine" according to Russian officials because "the Kremlin has been working hard to promote its version of events in the face of widespread indignation and an anti-war movement at home".

[16][31] Konstantin Gorobets, an associate professor at the University of Groningen, argued that, unlike "war", the term "special military operation" positioned Ukraine as a colony of Russia, denies it equal standing as a sovereign state, and uses the "language of policing".