Putin acknowledges Russian military officers in Ukrainian mainland

Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged at a Dec. 17 press conference in Moscow that Russian military intelligence officers have been present on Ukrainian territory. “We never said that there aren’t people there that are resolving certain issues in the military sphere,” Putin said in response to a Ukrainian journalist who “said hello” from Russian reconnaissance officers Yevgeny Yerofeyev and Aleksandr Aleksandrov, who are detained in Ukraine. “But that doesn’t mean that regular Russian soldiers are there. Understand the difference.”

With his statement, Putin publicly confirmed for the first time that Russian military is present in the occupied east, said in response Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. He said he contacted NATO leadership with the goal of increased cooperation to offer an adequate response to Russia’s growing military presence. Just two days earlier, Mustafa Dzhemilev, the president’s ombudsman for Crimean Tatar affairs, told the focus.ua news site that the Russian government has already transferred nuclear weapons to Crimea.

Zenon Zawada: Putin’s statement is the first time he’s acknowledged the presence of any Russian military on the Ukrainian mainland (beyond Crimea). Regarding Yerofeyev and Aleksandrov, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed at the time of their capture in eastern Ukraine in May that they left the Russian army, even after they themselves admitted to being active officers with the army’s reconnaissance unit.

Putin’s acknowledgement is part of what’s become the standard practice in his information policy in the war in Ukraine. Just as the Russian government denied the involvement of its military at the time of the Crimean annexation, a year later Putin acknowledged its involvement.  This strategy is aimed at providing the informational pretext to make such military actions more defensible in Western discourse, particularly among pro-Putinist forces and average Western citizens who aren’t familiar with the details.