Question. Is it propaganda to refer to the rebels as "Russians"?

though aren't nearly all Ukrainians technically ethnically Russian as well?

No, or at least that's no longer the mainstream view in Ukraine or the West. You will find many Russians who think that (which is largely why they feel like Russia and Ukraine must be reunited, sort of like France with Occitania, or the unification of Italy), but most Ukrainians outside of Donbass would not agree. What we today consider Russians and Ukrainians branched apart after the collapse of Rus'. They can both be considered "people of Rus'", but the term "Russian" today refers specifically to the northern branch. Traditionally it's more a continuum rather than strict ethnic borders though. Also, the historical core of Russia was a key part of Kievan Rus' as well (including Moscow), Rus' was not just a Ukrainian state, it was the state from which Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus equally emerged, all three having significant continuity despite the Mongol, Lithuanian, etc invasions.

Balangan's point is that there are plenty of people in the rebel ranks that are ethnic Ukrainians. This conflict is not so much about ethnicity as it is about culture, nostalgia, economics, regionalism, and loyalty to their past. People in the Donbass do not distinguish much between the two ethnicities anyways.

If we are to discuss this conflict at a high level, from an international perspective, it's not appropriate to call an ethnic Ukrainian citizen of Ukraine "a Russian".

And that brings me to my views on OPs question: No, it's not acceptable to call them all "Russians". There's a reason you will not see any serious organizations do this. To do so substitutes accuracy for a highly politicized (and often emotional) narrative. "Russian" is a specific term with a specific meaning, either a Russian citizen, or an ethnic Russian. In the Russian language, there are different terms for each. The reason it's not right is because a significant portion of the rebels do not fit these labels. Many of them are locals, and this becomes a majority when you include the fighters manning interior checkpoints, a large rebel police force made up of former Ukrainian-government police officers and Berkut, and a rebel administrative system that draws heavily from Party of Regions functionaries at its mid and lower levels. I would remind you all that these people are still considered Ukrainians by the Ukrainian government. Significant numbers of them are ethnic Ukrainians. To call them all Russians is to effectively promote the bogus narrative that suggests there is/was no local support for the DNR/LNR, and no locals in their ranks. Even the Kyiv Post reports otherwise, not to mention countless Western publications from the beginning of the conflict.

There's also the issue that those who want to label them all "Russians" also tend to conflate the term with "invaders". This is dangerous considering that 40% of the civilian population in the Donbass region is ethnic Russian, and I fear such rhetoric could empower the fringe elements within Ukrainian nationalism that think those people shouldn't be allowed to live there.

It's also problematic when people refer to groups of fighters that include locals, women, and men in their 60s as "Russian soldiers", another phrase with a very specific meaning. I believe there is a use in trying to spot actual Russian soldiers, who are certainly operating there. Spotting legitimate Russian soldiers can help us analyze what is going to happen (as Russian soldiers are used for a very specific purpose) and how hard the Russian government is pushing in a certain battle/area. This becomes much harder when the term is stripped of its precise meaning by those who throw it around.

Now certainly plenty of the rebels in sensitive frontline areas are volunteers/mercenaries from Russia, supplied by the Russian government, and there are also some Russian soldiers. And because they are generally dressed and equipped like locals, it's not easy to identify them. But to throw your hands in the air and declare them all Russians is intellectual laziness and muddies the information flow. There are better umbrella terms available, with "pro-Russian militants" possibly being the best for broad accuracy. There's also pro-Russian rebels, Russian-backed separatists, even Soviet loyalists. But "Russians" or "Russian soldiers" isn't right unless you are talking about a specific group of people for whom that literally applies.

/r/UkrainianConflict Thread