“You want the Ukrainian central authorities to annihilate everyone there, all of their political foes and opponents… Is that what you want? We certainly don’t. And we won’t let it happen.”

That’s what Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with Germany’s ARD Television that aired on November 16th, right after his departure from the G20 Summit in Brisbane. In that short statement, Putin (though everyone can rest assured that he would deny it) said what has been known for months: The Russian Federation is very much a part of the war Ukraine.

This comes in stark contrast to the usual Kremlin message. Putin, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and other Russian government officials have been emphatic in the rejection of the idea that they are a party to the conflict in Ukraine between the government in Kiev and the pro-Russian Separatists.

When speaking about a phone call between Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko that the latter claimed had created an agreement on a ceasefire in early Septemeber, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that this couldn’t be the case because “Russia cannot agree on a cease-fire as it is not a participant in the conflict.” Sergey Ivanov, another Kremlin official, said in mid-October that “Russia is not a party in the conflict. It is a civil war in Ukraine.”

That has been the party line. Russia cannot really do anything to help de-escalate the situation, let alone end it, they say, but Putin just added in that they are apparently more than able to help keep the Separatist movement alive.

“We won’t let it happen.” That is a full admission of participation in the conflict, especially when Putin’s comment on where the Separatists are getting their weapons and supplies from. In the same interview with ARD, he noted that “nowadays people who wage a fight and consider it righteous will always get weapons. But I would like to stress that this is not the issue.”

Putin and the Russian government are always quick to say that any Western military aid to Ukraine is a provocation and escalation of the situation, but to be so blasé about the source of sophisticated weapons systems, T-72 main battle tanks, heavy artillery, and more tanks the Separatists have been acquiring is a would be stunning if it wasn’t Putin who was speaking.

Putin denied involvement in the Crimea, only to later admit that Russian troops were indeed involved in the seizure of the region. It was safe to admit that, though, even in April, because Western governments had already passed on that issue.

The leaders of those same Western governments, though, launched a withering assault on Putin as soon as he touched down in Brisbane on Saturday. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in a moment that instantly took off on social media, rebuffed Putin immediately upon seeing him with a simple message: “well, I guess I’ll shake your hand, but I only have one thing to say to you: you need to get out of Ukraine.”

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, hosting the G20, also chastised Putin, saying that “Russia would be so much more attractive if it was aspiring to be a superpower for peace and prosperity, if it was trying to be a superpower for ideas and for values, instead of trying to recreate the lost glories of tsarism or the old Soviet Union.” Remarks by British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel also stressed how Russian action in Ukraine remains a roadblock in relations.

Yet, despite Harper and others repeatedly reciting phrases that sound remarkably like the definition of “invasion,” no one actually dared to call Russia’s actions an invasion. President Obama came the closest, saying that “we’re also very firm on the need to uphold core international principles, and one of those principles is you don’t invade other countries or finance proxies and support them in ways that break up a country that has mechanisms for democratic elections.” However, he didn’t actually say that Russia has invaded Ukraine, and when Vice President Biden did indeed label Russia’s actions an invasion, he quickly walked back his comment.

The story is clear, though, and even Putin cannot bring himself to do much work in hiding it. Russia invaded Ukraine, now occupies a significant portion of the Luhansk and Donetsk provinces, collectively known as the Donbas. There are Russian tanks in Ukraine. There are Russian air defense units in Ukraine. There are Russian artillery batteries in Ukraine. There are regular Russian troops in Ukraine, and the Separatist militias can and should be labeled as just another arm of the military of the Russian Federation.

As Samantha Power, the permanent representative of the United States at the UN said at an emergency session on Ukraine on November 12th, “the root of the problem [in Eastern Ukraine] remains the same: Russia’s flagrant violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Garrett Khoury, a graduate of the George Washington University’s Elliot School of International Affairs and an MA Candidate at Tel Aviv University, is the Director of Research and Content for The Eastern Project. Garrett has previously worked with The Israel Project in Jerusalem and The American Task Force on the Western Sahara in Washington, DC.

Title Photo: Russian President Vladimir Putin walks past (left to right) Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, President Barack Obama, and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott at the G20 Welcoming Ceremony.

Title Photo Credit: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images