Russia passed censorship laws requiring the war in Ukraine to be called a special military operation.
Posted by The Bulwark Daily, Checked
- Sources
- 6 support1 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 85%
The Bulwark DailySep 29, 2026
Multiple sources confirm that after Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, authorities required media to call the war a 'special military operation' and made calling it a war risky under the March 2022 censorship laws.
What was said
… That's the story of the day, but also these kinds of rules of the game had shifted, because once Russia sent completely its armies into Ukraine, it passed these really draconian censorship laws. You couldn't even call the war a war. Legally, you had to call it a special military operation, so any story we were doing was violating the law. So Some foreign bureaus left. We stayed. There was a debate. …
The Bulwark Daily · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. Reuters reports that Roskomnadzor demanded on the day of the invasion that media use only the 'special operation' framing, with fines or blocking for noncompliance.[1]
Supports. AP reports that a new Russian law required reporters to refer to the invasion as a 'special military operation' and restricted the word 'war'.[2]
Supports. Freedom House states that authorities mandated that media outlets refer to the war as a 'special military operation'.[3]
Supports. The March 4, 2022 laws criminalized 'fake' or 'discrediting' statements about the armed forces, and reporting described calling it a 'war' as potentially a crime carrying up to 15 years in prison.[4][5][6]
Context. Sources differ on whether the 'special military operation' wording was set by a legal requirement or a regulator directive, but both describe it as mandatory for media.[1][2][7]
Context. The post's own wording ('Legally, you had to call it a special military operation') matches how the sources describe the requirement, so the claim does not depart from the passage.[2][3]
Sources
7 sources: 2 fact-checkers, 5 not rated
- 1Explainer: Russia's internet crackdownreuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports, context
- 2Journalists impeded, not muzzled, by Russian reporting rulesapnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports, context
- 3Russia: Freedom on the Net 2022 Country Reportfreedomhouse.org · not rated · cited for: supports, context
- 4Russia steps up censorship with law against 'false information'bostonglobe.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 5Russia increases censorship with new law: 15 years in jail ...usatoday.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 6Russian 2022 war censorship laws - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org · not rated · cited for: supports
- 7How the Kremlin's new laws against anti-war dissent ...advox.globalvoices.org · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
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