In its February 22 intelligence update, the UK Defense Ministry says Russia depicts its war in Ukraine as evolving into a direct conflict with the West, acknowledging extended “military operation” ahead to brace its population for losses and lowered economic conditions long-term.

The ministry wrote:

• On 14 February 2024, Russian Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists that while the “special military operation began as an operation against Ukraine, over time it has taken on the form of a war against the collective West, a war when the countries of the collective West, led by the United States, are directly involved in this conflict.”
• This is broadly consistent with a trend in Russian official rhetoric that seeks to excuse the length of the conflict, and scale of Russian losses through the depiction of the war as a direct conflict with the West.
• Peskov went on to acknowledge that the ‘special military operation’ “may last a bit longer, but this can’t change the course of things.” This forms part of the Russian official narrative almost certainly aimed at situating the domestic population for a long-term conflict and the associated decline in domestic living standards, while providing reassurance of ultimate Russian victory.

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