Nina Popova (C), a poetess and the deputy head of the Russian Writersโ Union, presents an anthology of patriotic poems entitled โFor Our Friendsโ celebrating the courage of Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine, during the 10th edition of the โRed Squareโ book festival in Moscow on June 6, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP
Euphemisms to talk about the dead, military jargon, patriotic poems and self-censorship: two-and-a-half years of fighting in Ukraine have had an impact on Russian language and literature.
On February 24, 2022, President Vladimir Putin announced a โSpecial Military Operationโ โ referred to by its Russian acronym as โSVOโ.
The abbreviation has become ubiquitous in Russia โ repeated by political and military officials, used on social networks, in books and on illuminated billboards on the side of the road of the Russian capital.
Usage of word โwarโ
The use of the word โwarโ was initially completely banned and punishable with a prison sentence.
It has reappeared in official language, even from Mr. Putin, but only to describe what he says is a war instigated by Ukraine and the West against Russia.
Nina Popova, a pro-government author who is also the deputy head of the Russian Writersโ Union, uses the word without batting an eyelid.
Her organisation, a propaganda tool during the Soviet era, oversaw the publication in June of an anthology of poems entitledย For Our Friendsย celebrating the courage of Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine.
She said the appearance of patriotic poems and songs shows that the conflict in Ukraine โis starting to take on a sacred dimensionโ.
That status has long been occupied by the โGreat Patriotic Warโ โ the Russian name for World War II which Mr. Putin places at the heart of his rhetoric on Russian greatness and regularly compares to the โSVOโ.
An example of the omnipresence of the โSVOโ acronym is its use in the form of wordplay in the slogan โJoin our people!โ plastered across the country to encourage Russians to join the army.
Another change is that the government no longer denies losses in an effort to โsoften the shock for public opinionโ, the linguist said.
Several euphemisms are used in Russian to refer to losses, including โ200sโ to refer to military deaths or โ300sโ for injuries.
These expressions feature in an informal โdictionary of the SVOโ shown off by Ms. Popova.
It has a lot of the jargon used by the army such as โbirdโ or โBatmanโ for drones but also new words to refer to mobilised soldiers such as โmobikiโ or even โchmobikiโ โ the latter with the addition of another word meaning โscumโ.
Critics of the โSVOโ resort to self-censorship and silence.
While in 2022 โyou could hear people expressing doubt on public transport or with their neighbours,โ the linguist said, โthey now stay silentโ.
