Authors

Paul Goode¹;  ¹ Carleton University, Canada

Discussion

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, much research on Russia’s war narratives has focused on the ways that Russia’s media portrays the “special military operation” as a defensive and anti-imperial struggle for domestic audiences. The role of the West (and particularly the United States) in these narratives invariably emerges as the key provocateur and puppet-master, motivated by the decline of American hegemony and changing world order. It is somewhat surprising, then, that the role of sanctions remains relatively under-examined. While sanctions discourse flies under the radar in current analyses of Russia’s information war, it is notable that sanctions are the only war-related topic that has remained salient on both national and regional television since 2022. Upon closer scrutiny, sanctions occupy an important position in Russia’s war narratives: on the one hand, sanctions are presented as evidence of the West’s persistent and irrational (if not “russophobic”) policies and as a means to dismiss any economic difficulties arising from the war; while on the other, they are also presented as ineffective, as sowing divisions in the West, and ultimately as easily overcome. Sanctions thus confirm the need for the special military operation while also serving as proof that the full-scale invasion of Ukraine is simply a continuation of Russia’s decade-long confrontation with the West rather than a decisive rupture in relations. This paper draws upon television broadcast transcript data from the SSHRC-funded projects “Russia’s Media at War” and “Russian Media Observation and Reporting (RuMOR).”