Vladimir Putin has for years referred to his invasion of Ukraine as a “special military operation”, but his spokesperson has now broken the long-standing taboo and called the conflict what is really is: a war.

This was no accident, but highlights a shift in the official line from the Kremlin – a tactic designed to intimidate Europe into backing away from its support of Kyiv.

Moscow’s increasing willingness to describe the conflict as a war has major political ramifications, and underlines Putin’s growing anger and stepping up of his campaign against the continent.

For years, calling the invasion a war in Russia could mean going to prison. In March 2022, the Criminal Code was revised with the addition of Articles 207.3 and 280.3 criminalising the “dissemination of knowingly false information” or “discrediting” the military – which often meant telling the truth about what was happening.

The goal was to intimidate rather than prosecute, and to scare people into toeing the party line. There have been high-profile prosecutions, from Moscow municipal deputy Alexei Gorinov, sentenced to seven years in prison for publicly saying that Ukrainian children were dying in the bombings, to dissident politician Ilya Yashin, given eight and a half years for discussing the killing of civilians in Bucha.

Putin did refer to a “real war” during his 2023 Victory Day parade speech, but he was talking less about Ukraine and more about a struggle by “the Western globalist elites” to “break apart and destroy our country”.

The official line has been that the “special military operation” in Ukraine was just one front in a wider political, economic and social war with the West.

But in an interview with Pavel Zarubin, perhaps the journalist the Kremlin most trusts, presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that “there’s a war going on, a real war… it all started as a special military operation. It continues as a war, because Kyiv has Berlin, Paris, The Hague, Oslo, and, unfortunately, Washington behind it”.

On one level, this may seem like a trivial change. Russian drones and missiles are still hammering Ukraine’s cities – and, increasingly, vice versa – whatever the conflict is called. However, Peskov is no maverick, and he chose his words carefully.

Nato leaders are now gathering in Ankara, Turkey, where discussion will focus not just on Europe reassuring Donald Trump that it is serious about “rebalancing” – spending more on its own defence as US assets are withdrawn – but also on continued support for Ukraine. The goal is to agree on a pledge that military assistance to Ukraine in 2027 will at least match this year’s combined total of £60bn.

Read More: Putin finally using the word ‘war’ is a sign of growing threat to Europe