Russia's officials in politics and state media are used to abrupt voltes.

Until a few days ago, they described Western warnings of the Russian deployment as "hysteria" and "Russophobia" and asserted that they had no plans to attack Ukraine.

Now there is a chorus of praise for the crackdown on a “Kiev junta” and forthcoming “purges”, such as experienced pseudo-opposition politician Sergey Mironov on state television a few hours after the attacks began.

There was a similar reversal in 2015, when for weeks the establishment of an air force base in Syria was denied as an "information campaign" and then, when the attacks began, it acted as if the base in Hmeimim had always been there.

Frederick Smith

Political correspondent for Russia and the CIS in Moscow.

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Vyacheslav Volodin, the head of the Duma, called for a "demilitarization of Ukraine" in a statement on Thursday, like President Vladimir Putin.

This is the "only way" that "allows war in Europe to be averted," wrote Volodin.

Officially, the "special operation" is not supposed to be a war, despite the deployment of many parts of the armed forces, not only in the Donbass.

Only Russian sources allowed for reporting

To ensure that the Russians only get the official account, there is the media regulator Roskomnadzor.

She called on all media to report on what was happening exclusively using "official Russian sources".

Otherwise there is a risk of high fines and blocking.

An online medium from Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, had to remove a message about the shelling of Ukrainian cities after a corresponding threat.

According to Russia's Defense Ministry, Ukrainian cities are not being shelled, but only military targets and "with pinpoint accuracy".

"Everything is going according to plan," triumphed Deputy Alexey Shuralyov from the Duma Defense Committee on state television on Thursday afternoon, hinting that the operation would end soon because "the entire infrastructure had been destroyed."

There is “some resistance”, but it won’t last long.

After that, the people of Ukraine must decide how they want to live.

In doing so, Shuralev said, it should be based on Crimea, which was annexed in 2014, and on the "people's republics" recognized as states on Monday.

Many Ukrainian regions would like to join Russia, the politician said.

The "People's Republics" halted the transfer of civilians to Russia on Thursday, although they had been voicing shrill tones of danger since last Thursday.

The latest volte comes as a surprise to the people of Russia.

There were initially no polls on Thursday.

Traditionally, a majority blames America for a wide variety of evils, including in Ukraine.

Hardly anyone had expected a Russian military operation – which Putin tried to justify in the morning with Western threats, among other things.

In addition, many Russians have grown tired of the constant state television reports and complaints about Ukrainian abuses over the past eight years, as sociologists report.

According to an institute close to the Kremlin, more than three quarters of Russians supported the recognition of the “people's republics”.

But there is no enthusiasm.