Transformation of the Europe’s Concept in WWII Speeches by Russian Presidents (2004-2019)
Keywords:
Political communication, Political speeches, Europe, Russia, WWII
Abstract
Historically, the Europe’s concept in Russian state discourse has been constantly transforming, due to current events. Nowadays, the concept’s understanding can’t be described without WWII topic – obviously a crucial point in the modern Russian ideology. To explore the image of Europe in this discourse, the speeches of the Russian presidents given on the 9th of May from 2000 to 2019 were content analyzed. The transformations of Europe in the Russian state discourse about WWII as were as Europe’s roles in the WWII were defined. Up to 2009 the differentiation between the post-Soviet countries and “far abroad” Europe was constantly used. After the Russo-Georgian war, and mostly after the annexation of Crimea and the war in Donbas, the construction of a bipolar world started. Russian isolation can be observed in 2010-2019. Europe’s roles have been changing. In early Putin’s speeches (2000-2003) this topic seems not to be significant. Before 2008 Europe was described as both active and passive in the war. Afterwards “passiveness” prevailed. Thus, in the Russian state discourse, after 2008 the WWII was used to show the opposition between active/strong Russia and passive/weak Europe, which provide threats to peace on the planet.
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ASMUS, R. (2010). Europe’s Contested Neighborhood. [online]. In: Project-syndicate.org. Available at:
AVERRE, D. (2009). Competing Rationalities: Russia, the EU and the ‘Shared Neighbourhood’. In: Europe-Asia Studies. Vol. 61, No. 10, 2009.
BARTHES, R. (1989). Izbrannye raboty. Semiotika. Poetica. Moscow: Progress, 1989.
BREZHNEV, L. (1970) Velikaia pobeda sovetskogo naroda. In: BREZHNEV, L. Leninskim kursom, rechi I statí. Moscow: Izdatel’stvo politicheskoi literatury, 1970.
CASIER, T. (2016). Identities and Images of competition in the overlapping neighborhoods: how EU and Russian foreign politics interact. In: SIMÃO, L., PIET, R. (eds). Security in Shared Neighbourhoods: Foreign Policy of Russia, Turkey and the EU . London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2016.
HARASYMIW, B. (2010). Russia, the United States, and the New Cold War. In: Journal of Military and Strategic Studies. Vol. 12, No. 2, 2010.
HWANG, Y., SCHNEIDER, F. (2011). Performance, Meaning, and Ideology in the Making of Legitimacy: The Celebrations of the People’s Republic of China’s Sixty-Year Anniversary. In: The China Review. Vol. 11, No 1, 2011.
IVANOV V., SERGEEV, V. (2015). Sprosite tekh kto voeval. Poisk: Politica. Obshchestvovedenie. Iskusstvo. Sotsiologia. Kultura. Vol. 1, No. 48, 2015.
KRASTEV, I. (2005). Russia’s post-orange empire. [online]. Available at:
KUSHNIR, O. (2018) From ‘Brothers to Enemies: The Future of the Ukrainian-Russian Relations. In: Cicero Foundation Great Debate Paper. Vol. 18, No. 1, 2018.
LOFTUS, S., KANET, R. E. (2017) Growing Confrontation between Russia and the West: Russia’s Challenge to the Post-Cold War Order. In: KANET R. (eds) The Russian Challenge to the European Security Environment. London: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2017.
MEDVEDEV, D. (2008). Vystuplenie na Voennom parade v chest’ 63-i godovshchiny pobedy v velikoi otechestvennoi voine. [online]. Available at:
MEDVEDEV, D. (2009). Vystuplenie na Voennom parade v chest’ 64-i godovshchiny pobedy v velikoi otechestvennoi voine. [online]. Available at:
MEDVEDEV, D. (2010). Dorogie veterany! Vy zavoevali mir dlia vsei strany, vsei planety. Dali nam samu vozmozhnost zhit’. Nizkij vam poklon. [online]. Available at:
NOSOVICH, A. (2015). Zadvorki Evropy. Pochemu umiraet Pribaltika. Moscow: OOO Izdatel’stvo Algoritm, 2015.
NUNLIST, C. THRANERT, O. (2015). Putin’s Russia and European Security. In: CSS Analyses in Security Policy. 172, 2015.
POPESCU, N. (2006). Russia’s Soft Power Ambitions. In: CEPS Policy Brief. 115, October 2006.
PUGACH, M. (2017) Arkhitektura brekhni: yak zbuduvano propagandysts’ku mashynu Kremlia in Slova ta viiny. Ukraina v borot’bi z rosiiskou propagandou. Kyiv: K. I. C., 2017.
PUTIN, V. (2005). Vystuplenie na Voennom parade v chest’ 60-i godovshchiny pobedy v velikoi otechestvennoi voine. Available at:
PUTIN, V. (2007). Vystuplenie na Voennom parade v chest’ 62-i godovshchiny pobedy v velikoi otechestvennoi voine. [online]. Available at:
PUTIN, V. (2014). Voennyi parad na Krasnoi ploshchadi. [online]. Available at:
PUTIN, V. (2015). My prekloniaemsia pered vsemi, kto nasmert’stoial za kazhduiu ulitsu, kazhdyi dom, kazhdyi rubezh Otchizny. [online]. Available at:
PUTIN, V. (2017). Voennyi parad na Krasnoi ploshchadi. [online]. Available at:
REGNUM.RU (2016). Kak rusofobiia I derusificatsia priveli Ukrainu na zadvorki Evropy I istorii. [online]. Available at:
RG.RU (2014). Federal’nyi zakon ot 5 maya 2014 g. #128-FZ “O vnesenii izmenenij v otdel’nye zakonodatel’nye akty Rossijskoj Federatsii. [online]. Available at:
RIA.RU (2016). Putin: rossiiskie soldaty I segodnia gotovy na liuboi podvig radi strany. [online]. Available at:
RU.SPUTNIKNEWS.LT. (2016). Sovetskie pamiatniki v Baltii I Pol’shche. [online]. Available at:
RUSSIAN.RT.COM. (2015). Boulevard Voltaire. Putin ne odinok – k nemu na parad edet polplanety. [online]. Available at:
RUSVESNA.SU (2014). No pasarán! Fashizm ne projdet! V DNR sozdadut interbrigady. [online]. Available at:
SCAZZIERI, L. (2017) Europe, Russia and the Ukraine crisis: the dynamics of coercion. In: Journal of Strategic Studies. Vol. 40, No. 3, 2017, pp. 392-416. DOI:10.1080/01402390.2016.1265509.
SLOBODCHIKOFF, M. O., DAVIS, D. G. (2017). Roots of Russian soft power: rethinking Russian national identity. In: Comparative Politisc. Rusia. Vol. 8, No 2, 2017. DOI: 10.18611/2221-3279-2017-8-2-19-36.
SMITH, H. (2014) Russian Greatpowerness: Foreign policy, the Two Chechen Wars and International Organizations, Helsinki: University of Helsinki, 2014.
UMLAND, A. (2007) Post-Soviet ‘Uncivil Society’ and the Rise of Aleksandr Dugin: A Case Study of the Extraparliamentary Radical Right in Contemporary Russia. [online]. Available at:
WEISS M., POMERANTSEV P. (2015). Povelyteli Brekhni: informatsia, cultura ta hroshi na slugbi Kremlia. [online]. In: Krytyka.com. Available at:
WHITE, S., FEKLYUNINA, V. (2014). Russia and ‘Europe’: Elite Discourses. In: Identities and Foreign Policies in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. Available at:
WOLCZUK, K. DRAGNEVA, R. (2015) Ukraine between the EU and Russia: The Integration Challenge. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2015.
WORLD FREEDOM FOUNDATION (2015) Vladimir Putin - Direct Speech Without Cuts: Russian Strategy for Winning the Geopolitical Game. Alexandria: Int’l Business Publications USA, 2015.
YOUNGS, R. (2017). Europe’s Eastern Crisis. The geopolitics of Asymmetry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017.
Published
2020-04-15
How to Cite
Steblyna, N. (2020) “Transformation of the Europe’s Concept in WWII Speeches by Russian Presidents (2004-2019)”, Slovak Journal of Political Sciences, 20(1). Available at: https://sjps.fsvucm.sk/index.php/sjps/article/view/131 (Accessed: 19April2024).
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