Special military operation

"Special military operation" (also "special operation", and abbreviated as "SMO" or "SVO" for специальная военная операция) is an official term used by the Russian government and pro-Russian sources to denote the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is widely considered to be a euphemism created to minimize and obfuscate the true nature of the full-fledged war started by Russia, and to claim Russian victory in the operation no matter the results. The expression appears prominently in the public address by President of Russia Vladimir Putin titled "On conducting a special military operation", which the Russian leader released on 24 February 2022. The term "special military operation" has also been widely used in Ukrainian media in specific contexts, generally written in scare quotes, which highlight the psychologically artificial nature of the expression. It gets applied in the context of describing Russian actions negatively.