Sugar coating it is how you get ants

from here and here

It can also be how you get copycats. 

Look, I'm not in favour of what Russia is doing right now either, but a wiper that targets Russians is still malware, regardless of whether I feel sympathy for the victims. Moreover, it's entirely possible that the people who fall victim to it are also against what their government is doing, so your potentially harming allies.

If we don't call this what it is then that sends the signal that this kind of malware is more approved of and thus we could wind up seeing more of it.