Russkiy Mir : Vladimir Putin’s strategic narrative as legitimation of Russian invasion to Ukraine in 2022

Abstract

The ideology of Russkiy mir which encompasses values of protection of compatriots, the Orthodox Church’s role significance, the ethno-nationalist geopolitical position, and the revival of the Soviet Union legacy has become an integral part of Russia’s national identity narrative in Vladimir Putin’s third presidential term. After the annexation of Crimea, the narrative of Russkiy mir became one of the main defining concepts that explain how the Russia-Ukraine conflict is defined, constructed, and understood. As a socially-constructed concept of politics and culture, Russkiy mir must adapt in accordance with discourses in the domestic and international landscape to justify Russia’s invasion on February 24th, 2022. This thesis seeks to find answer in “how the strategic narrative formation process of Russkiy mir was being implemented by Vladimir Putin in order to justify the 2022 Russia-Ukraine war?”. This research uses the theory of the formation of strategic narrative to identify the strategic goals of a political actor for both domestic and international audience and the types of communication that the actor uses, and critical discourse analysis method is used to uncover how Vladimir Putin utilized components of discourses available from domestic and international settings to construct narratives for strategic purposes. To summarize the research finding, by analyzing the Russian Federation Presidential Address on February 24th, 2022, it can be concluded that Vladimir Putin’s strategic narrative formation process of Russkiy mir was heavily dependent on the three-dimensional conception of discourse. Using agenda setting and policy legitimacy effort, Vladimir Putin has utilizes discourse practices of Russkiy mir as an ideology of cultural linkage through language, religion, and the belief of Motherland that politicize compatriots to define Russia’s relations with Ukraine and the West. Socio-cultural practices in the domestic and international landscape post-Crimea annexation to the 2022 Russia- Ukraine war have also shaped the discourse components of Russkiy mir contained in his presidential address to be more explicit and offensive. This instance confirms that representational force became the main type of narrative communication that Vladimir Putin use to attack Ukraine and the West.