Post #150430

Russian politician files legal challenge over Putin's reference to Ukraine "war" A St Petersburg politician has asked prosecutors to investigate Russian President Vladimir Putin for using the word "war" to describe the conflict in Ukraine, accusing the Kremlin chief of breaking his own law. Putin has for months described his invasion as a "special military operation". He signed laws in March that prescribe steep fines and jail terms for discrediting or spreading "deliberately false information" about the armed forces, putting people at risk of prosecution if they call the war by its name. But he departed from his usual language on Thursday when he told reporters: "Our goal is not to spin the flywheel of military conflict, but, on the contrary, to end this war." Nikita Yuferev, an opposition councillor in the city where Putin was born, said he knew his legal challenge would go nowhere, but he had filed it to expose the "mendacity" of the system. read more