The United Nations told its staff not to refer to Russia’s attack on Ukraine as a “war” or “invasion,” according to The Irish Times.
The organization instructed staff to refer to Russia’s invasion as a “conflict” or “military offensive,” the Irish Times reported. It also reportedly told its staff not to add the Ukrainian flag to personal or professional social media accounts.
“Some specific examples of language to use/not use at the moment,” an email to U.N. staff read, the Irish Times reported. “[USE] ‘conflict’ or ‘military offensive’ and NOT ‘war’ or ‘invasion’ when referring to the situation in Ukraine.”
The email said the policy existed to avoid a “reputational risk” and serve as a “reminder that we, as international civil servants, have a responsibility to be impartial,” the Irish Times reported. Russia holds one of five permanent seats on the U.N. Security Council.
The Kremlin has referred to its invasion as a “special military operation,” and it has claimedit deployed its soldiers to “de-Nazify” Ukraine. A Russian media regulator ordered local news outlets to purge reporting that included the words “assault,” “invasion” or “declaration of war,” or risk being fined or blocked, the Irish Times reported.
Russia launched its invasion in late February after Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the independence of two separatist-controlled regions in eastern Ukraine. Over 2 million people have fled the country since the attack began, according to the U.N. refugee agency.
Moscow announced a list of demands it said Ukraine needed to meet in order for it to end its invasion on Monday.
It ordered Ukraine to cease all military action, alter its constitution to enshrine its neutrality from Western pacts and NATO, recognize Crimea as part of Russia and recognize its two the separatist republics of Donetsk and Lugansk as independent.
HD Editor’s Note:
The phrase “military offensive” that the UN instructs staff to use parrots the words of Russian President Vladimir Putin when he commenced the invasion into Ukraine, referring to it as a “special military operation.”
Changing the phrasing used by staff to downplay the serious nature of Russia’s unprovoked actions against Ukraine undercuts its claimed desire to appear “neutral.”
Following the Irish Times report, backlash erupted on Social media against the UN. Many pointed out that the words “war” and “invasion” in the context of discussing Ukraine are also banned by Russia among its citizens.
“It’s hard to believe that the UN could essentially impose the same kind of censorship as the Kremlin imposes inside Russia now by banning the use of words’ war’ and ‘invasion’ among UN staff,” Dmytro Kuleba, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, wrote on Twitter. “I urge the UN to swiftly refute such reports if they are false. UN reputation at stake.”
“The UN. Such garbage. Covering for a beast. But what’s new? They’ve always been a fraud and part of the problem,” Fox News’ Tammy Bruce tweeted.
Some have insisted that the United Nations has long lost its credibility and sound judgment for wrongful demonization and targeting of the Jewish State of Israel.
“Upside down: 1. The UN told staff not to use the words ‘war’ or ‘invasion’ in describing the war in Ukraine, in order to ‘be impartial.’ 2. The UN named Navi Pillay as their ‘impartial’ head of an inquiry on Israel after she lobbied governments to ‘sanction apartheid Israel,’” Hillel Neuer, the Executive Director of UN Watch, stated on Social Media.
