Talk:Vladimir Putin speech on invading Ukraine

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: Putin's invasion of Ukraine speech. There is a clear consensus in favor of some move away from the currently ambiguous and undescriptive title. Moved to the alternatively proposed Putin's invasion of Ukraine speech as a clearly more policy-compliant descriptive title. BD2412 T 00:56, 7 September 2025 (UTC)

On conducting a special military operation → Speech by Vladimir Putin regarding the start of the invasion of UkraineSpeech by Vladimir Putin regarding the start of the invasion of Ukraine – The background to this is in the section above, but here is an account of the issue. The question of making the move was raised by NikitaIsNext05, and on checking I found that I agreed with their concerns. Freedoxm has stated that he disagrees, but has so far not said why. There are, it seems to me, two issues: the title has no official status, apparently having been invented for this Wikipedia article, and it is not a helpful or informative title. I shall deal with each of those points.

• "On conducting a special military operation" is not used as a title for the speech in any significant or reliable source, including the official Russian government publication of the speech. The speech on the Russian government website is titled "Обращение Президента Российской Федерации"; the English version on the Russian government web site is titled "Address by the President of the Russian Federation", which is also how Google translates the Russian title. (Those two versions are respectively at http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67843 and http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67843.) "On conducting a special military operation" is a quote from the speech, but I have searched extensively, and the use of it as a title for the speech has, as far as I can see, been invented by a Wikipedia editor. I have not found any example anywhere of use of the Russian version as a title, and its use in English is largely restricted to wikis and similar sites, all of which have either certainly or probably derived it from this Wikipedia article.

• The title "On conducting a special military operation" is not helpful to the reader, as it does nothing to convey what the article is about.

• Since the title of this article is neither an official title nor a title in use in reliable sources, and since it does not indicate the subject matter of the article, it would be much better replaced by something which does indicate what the article is about. NikitaIsNext05 mentioned that the Russian Wikipedia article has the title (in translation) "Speech by Vladimir Putin regarding the start of the invasion of Ukraine", and I have accepted that, as it clearly indicates what the article is about, but I am not wedded to that form of words if anyone has a better suggestion. Certainly I see that as far better than the current title. JBW (talk) 19:54, 3 August 2025 (UTC) — Relisting. TarnishedPath^talk 11:29, 11 August 2025 (UTC) — Relisting. TarnishedPath^talk 12:33, 18 August 2025 (UTC)

• Proposal (Support and Opposed) – Actually per WP:COMMONNAME, which is what this requested move is arguing for. A lot of famous speeches throughout history are not actually named by their formal "name", if they even have a name, but rather by the most famous/historical phrase. Examples include Day of Infamy speech, We shall fight on the beaches, Blood, toil, tears and sweat, or they are based on the date and location/event such as 1 September 1939 Reichstag speech, 6 October 1939 Reichstag speech, or 2024 State of the Union Address. The term "Special military operation" is widely known, to the point where it has its own Wikipedia article. Rather than make the title unnecessarily long with the proposal of Speech by Vladimir Putin regarding the start of the invasion of Ukraine, why not make it simply Special military operation speech? Other editors can !vote or reference this proposal as Alt name 1. Or On conducting a special military operation speech as Alt name 2. I am opposed to a renaming that removed the terms "special military operation" from the title, as it is widely known and referenced as that. Either this name is fine as is, or some slightly-alternate name proposal is ok with me. The Weather Event Writer (Talk Page) 20:39, 3 August 2025 (UTC)

  My problem is not what the official name is or not. My problem is that the article presents the name as some sort of official title, especially by then translating it into russian and putting quotation marks around it. The english version does not appear verbatim in the speech. The translation is "[...]I made a decision to carry out a special military operation" (see Kremlin site above in talk page). In Russian it DOES appear verbatim, though taken out of context with a sub-clause weirdly being cut in half. "мною принято решение | о проведении специальной военной операции", with the | indicating the cut. "I made a decision" was just cut out.

  Quickly going over Google scholar while searching for "Putin speech 24.02.2022", shows that most articles simply refer to it by saying it's the speech Putin held on 24.02.2022. If we want to keep the term SMO, I suggest something like "Vladimir Putin's speech on [the start of] the Special Military Operation (24.02.2022)" with the part in square brackets there for cleaner phrasing, but they can be removed for brevity. NikitaIsNext05 (talk) 21:33, 3 August 2025 (UTC)

Again, that is a very unnecessarily long title. You seem to be opposed to the currently title specifically because of the non-direct translation, which is completely valid. Why not support Alt name 1 from above: "Special military operation speech"? There is a ton of reliable sources that cover the terms "special military operation", so why not name it similar to that of the Day of Infamy speech? Sources for SMO: U.S. Government, U.S. Army, U.N., UN, Reuters, NATO, Kremlin, PBS, ect... I can go on listing the sources, but in fact, most sources reference Putin's announcement speech with the term "special military operation". If the argument is due to the non-direct translation, then NikitaIsNext05, I see no reason why you would object to Alt name 1, since that is the clear-cut commonname for this speech. The Weather Event Writer (Talk Page) 21:41, 3 August 2025 (UTC)

P.S., I do reject (and consider it false) your statement of most sourcing calling it "Putin speech 24.02.2022". I find quite the opposite, as presented above. I do not know if you were counting non-verbatim references to "Putin speech 24.02.2022", but from my searches, I can hardly find that exact phrase. In fact, Google Scholar shows 0 results for it. So yeah, from the standpoint of WP:COMMONNAME, any proposal to remove the terms "special military operation" will probably be highly opposed. The Weather Event Writer (Talk Page) 21:45, 3 August 2025 (UTC)

I am not a great fan of citing Wikipedia polices and guidelines, rather than appealing to reason, but since Weather Event Writer has decided to invoke Wikipedia:Article titles#Use commonly recognizable names (abbreviated as WP:COMMONNAME), I note the following points.

• While Weather Event Writer has managed to find a number of places where the expression "Special Military Operation" is quoted in reference to the event in question, none of them uses it a s a title for this speech; where is the evidence that that wording is the "common name" for that speech?
• WP:COMMONNAME is a means to an end, not an end in itself. The purpose in preferring a common name is to make it easier for users of the encyclopaedia to understand what it is about. 99% of users of the encyclopaedia would not have a clue what "On conducting a special military operation" refers to, but would understand what "Putin's speech on invading Ukraine" refers to.
• In the same policy as the section on common names, the section Wikipedia:Article titles#Deciding on an article title tells us, amongst other things to use Recognizability (a name which a reader will recognise the meaning of) and Precision ("The title unambiguously identifies the article's subject..."). Considerations such as these are, in fact, the reasons for WP:COMMONNAME, as I have indicated above. The current title fails both of those tests. JBW (talk) 00:04, 4 August 2025 (UTC)

Just to refute your statement that sources to not refer to the speech by SMO: PBS - "Putin’s “Special Military Operation” Speech", BBC, Bloomberg, The Sydney Morning Herald, The New York Times, and even the U.S. Congress with "On February 24, 2022, hours after Putin's televised address announcing a "special military operation," Russia invaded Ukraine..." To note, every RS connects "special military operation" to with the word "speech", "announce", "announced" or "announcing". I do not wish to reply anymore to this thread, but this is to directly dispute your claim that no one references it in the title. The Weather Event Writer (Talk Page) 01:35, 4 August 2025 (UTC)

• Oppose - The proposed title is not shown to have any signs of WP:COMMONNAME. As pentioned by @Weatherwriter, speeches are not usually refered to by a specific name. In addition, keep in mind the user who is requesting the move may be trying to WP:BLUDGEON. Freedoxm (talk · contribs) 01:16, 4 August 2025 (UTC)
• Propose Putin's invasion of Ukraine speech per WP:NDESC, as a sufficiently descriptive, precise, and concise alternative. Current title is bad, but the one proposed in RM is simply unnecessarily long.--Staberinde (talk) 19:21, 5 August 2025 (UTC)

  Indeed. I support the new proposed title, Putin's invasion of Ukraine speech, just note that speeches are ususally not referred to by a name. Freedoxm (talk · contribs) 19:34, 5 August 2025 (UTC)

Note: WikiProject Ukraine, WikiProject Military history, WikiProject Russia, and WikiProject Military history/Post-Cold War task force have been notified of this discussion. TarnishedPath^talk 11:29, 11 August 2025 (UTC)

• Rename in some way. The current title appears to be giving the speech a name that it does not have. —⁠ ⁠BarrelProof (talk) 20:10, 11 August 2025 (UTC)

  I note that the sources identified by WeatherWriter put quote marks around "special military operation" to avoid giving the impression that they themselves refer to it that way in their own voice. —⁠ ⁠BarrelProof (talk) 05:18, 19 August 2025 (UTC)

• Support as proposed or many other descriptive titles; the current title is stupid for reasons well described in the nomination Red Slash 17:23, 12 August 2025 (UTC)

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: moved. Consensus to move to "Vladimir Putin speech on invading Ukraine" (closed by non-admin page mover) BilledMammal (talk) 05:31, 16 June 2026 (UTC)

Putin's invasion of Ukraine speech → ? – Similarily to my reasoning at Putin's recognition of the Donbas republics, where I have just opened a RM, I find the practice of not displaying Putin's full name in an article title quite informal and unencyclopedic. This is the only aspect that I find unnegotiable. And I think there are other aspects worth discussing here. For instance, "address" might be more WP:COMMON than "speech" (and it honestly sounds nicer for an encyclopedia). Other wording constructions and arrangements are possible too.

I'd primarily suggest Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine speech as an easy immediate improvement. In the last RM, the current descriptive title seems not to have been discussed much, but to have been approved as a late alternative better than any other proposed one. Another proposal that comes to my mind is reversing the wording into Vladimir Putin's speech on invading Ukraine, if anyone finds it preferential (personally I find it more formal too, as the main noun is not thrown away as the title's final word). But there's other stuff that we could do.

I'd like to stir some more discussing on the current descriptive title as I find it quite sloppily approved. I'd also like it if editors could agree on outcomes on both this article and the one on the other 2022 speech that are WP:CONSISTENT with each other, specially as I have proposed an opposite wording order there, if editors think that's relevant. Regards, Super Ψ Dro 23:07, 29 May 2026 (UTC) — Relisting. {{GearsDatapacks|talk|contribs|in solidarity}} 09:41, 6 June 2026 (UTC)

• My preferred title is Vladimir Putin speech on invading Ukraine.
  • I prefer "speech" to "address" as it's more immediately clear. Article titles lack the benefit of context in e.g. "delivered a televised address".
  • I weakly prefer omitting "'s" for conciseness, making "Vladimir Putin speech" instead of "Vladimir Putin's speech". I'm not seeing an obvious consistency argument either way. It's used in some article titles and not in others (George S. Patton's speech to the Third Army, Barack Obama Tucson memorial speech). One source of this inconsistency is that titles that start with the year must omit "'s" (1993 Bill Clinton speech to a joint session of Congress) while titles that include the year immediately after the speaker name must include "'s" (Mitt Romney's 2016 anti-Trump speech).
  • I prefer "speech" before the topic as it's easier to parse and avoids the question of whether hyphens are needed within the topic. Jruderman (talk) 01:43, 31 May 2026 (UTC)

Note: WikiProject Russia and WikiProject Ukraine have been notified of this discussion. Jeffrey34555 (talk) 04:50, 5 June 2026 (UTC)

• support full name, see Category:Speeches by Vladimir Putin. No opinion on exact title, pardon my Englisch. --Altenmann >talk 08:05, 5 June 2026 (UTC)
• Vladimir Putin speech on invading Ukraine. "Speech" is more concise than "address" and aligns with Category:Speeches by Vladimir Putin; I agree with Jruderman on the context issue. He also makes a good point on the "'s" omission. Other changes per above. HKLionel TALK 10:13, 9 June 2026 (UTC)

  Note: I edited the "'s" part of my comment above, removing a consistency-based argument and replacing it with why I now think consistency doesn't guide us on this point. I'm curious what your take on "'s" is now. Jruderman (talk) 10:41, 9 June 2026 (UTC)

  Thanks for notifying. The fully grammatically correct version is "Vladimir Putin's speech on his invasion of Ukraine," which we don't need. If we're going for conciseness, might as well go the whole way. It's a superficial issue after all. HKLionel TALK 11:07, 9 June 2026 (UTC)