Can anyone - ideally someone who reads Russian and has consumed Russian media - explain to me the stated casus belli for the Ukraine war?
I know there are understandable reasons (natural resources, warm-water ports, domestic approval of the government during war, others?) but I can't imagine that's the stated reason for the war.
When the US invaded Iraq, for instance, our government made claims about WMDs, and some hand-wavy insinuations about 9/11. What are the WMDs and 9/11 of Russia's efforts in Ukraine?
But be aware that this is not how Russian messaging works. Their SOP is to claim everything at the same time, even if incongruous or contradictory. The desired effect is that you either give up at all or even better, one of their crackpot stories resonates with you and you go on to spread it (like the sibling comment linking some Azov nonsense). Even this one minute statement is just one big lie of course - the "Donetsk/Luhansk People's Republics" always had Russian soldiers fighting for them, they are not even hiding it in obituaries anymore.
I believe the major claim is that the Ukrainians are Nazis, and the "special military operation" (not War!) was to free the "real" Ukrainians from their Nazi oppressors.
Demographically, there are parts of Ukraine that have an ethnic Russian majority, and where Russian and not Ukrainian, is the de-facto language spoken. Among such regions you have Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk. In the last census before the conflict, the 2001 Ukranian census, Crimea had 60% ethnic Russians, and Donetsk and Luhansk were close to 50%. In those regions there have been conflicts between ethnic Russians and ethnic Ukrainians in recent times. Some ethnic Russians in ethnic Russian majority regions would like to be governed by Russia.
Another factor is Russia trying to have a power projection to the Black sea through the Crimean peninsula. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 but then Ukraine cut the water supply to the area (North Crimean canal/Північно-Кримський канал).
Another factor is Ukraine surrendering their nuclear weapons and being left vulnerable.
Another factor is NATO advancing East and Ukraine getting aligned and closer to the European Union and NATO.
Another factor is Russia being a permanent member of the UN Security Council and thus having veto power over resolutions against it.
I don't consume Russian media, just a lot of a certain message board that rhymes with toll. So maybe don't take my word as gospel, but here goes.
I think the casus belli is to free the people in Donetsk and Luhansk. It gets a bit wild from here, claiming that Ukrainians were Nazis oppressing the Russians in those two regions. So it is sold as a de-Nazification/liberation campaign. From what I have read on different telegram chats, Russian infantry expected to be welcomed with open arms. I wish I could cite sources, but I am quite certain Putin himself stated the objective of de-Nazification.
Some of the regions in eastern Ukraine that Russia has focused on have a Russian speaking population, some of which do not necessarily like the Ukrainian government, and there's a claim a military group that operates there has Nazi views and has since become part of the military in some capacity. So the stated claim is somewhere around "Ukrainian Nazis are oppressing ethnically Russian people living there who would rather be part of Russia."
Hence why they did the whole show and dance of having "votes" in those regions to become Russian states, etc. And of course, if you can claim the other side are Nazis, it's a great narrative for your side. Putin's stated reason is "the denazification of Ukraine".
(Do not speak Russian, but have seen a lot of the stuff Russian propaganda accounts are pushing.)
I know there are understandable reasons (natural resources, warm-water ports, domestic approval of the government during war, others?) but I can't imagine that's the stated reason for the war.
When the US invaded Iraq, for instance, our government made claims about WMDs, and some hand-wavy insinuations about 9/11. What are the WMDs and 9/11 of Russia's efforts in Ukraine?