On conducting a special military operation
"On conducting a special military operation" (О проведении специальной военной операции, O provedenii spetsialʹnoy voyennoy operatsii) was a televised broadcast by Russian president Vladimir Putin on 24 February 2022, announcing the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It addressed the citizens of Russia and Ukraine, the Russian Armed Forces and Armed Forces of Ukraine, and also the international community. Putin announced that Russia was launching a "special military operation" to defend the Russian-controlled territories in eastern Ukraine—the Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic—under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter. They had been at war with Ukraine since 2014, and Russia had recently become the first state to recognize them as independent. Putin claimed that Ukraine had been committing genocide against Russian speakers in the region, that Ukraine's government were neo-Nazis under Western control, that Ukraine was developing nuclear weapons, and that NATO was building up military infrastructure in Ukraine, which was a threat to Russia. These allegations were widely rejected as untrue. Putin said Russia sought the "demilitarization and denazification" of Ukraine, claimed Russia had no plans to occupy Ukrainian land, and threatened severe consequences for any country that intervened. The invasion began immediately after Putin's announcement. On 24 February 2022, at 5:30 a.m. Moscow Time, state television channels began broadcasting a new address by Russian president Vladimir Putin. In this speech, he talked about the following points: In his speech, Putin spoke about the impossibility of reaching an agreement with NATO on equal terms and accused the military alliance of "expanding" to the east. Putin mentioned the enlargement of NATO often in his address, calling it "unacceptable", along with the military development of Ukraine. He said:"As NATO expands to the east, with every passing year, the situation for our country is getting worse and more dangerous.
