How to prepare for war? Investigating the discourses in Russian foreign policy around the full-scale invasion of Ukraine

Abstract

The 2022 Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine was a turning-point in contemporary European history. Between the first reports of solid preparations for invasion and 24th February morning, Russian foreign policy discourse was largely focused on Ukraine and the West. By looking at the utterances of the main policy makers (the President and the Minister of Foreign Affairs), the sometimes-divergent narratives and ideas that were expressed are investigated through the lens of securitization and Bakhtin’s theory of heteroglossia and polyphony, by identifying the most relevant themes, languages, and voices that were used in the three-month period. This approach contributes towards a different way of understanding securitization and particularly the securitizing speech act, by including the notions of languages and voices into one’s analysis. The different languages and voices used in familiar themes and contexts helped produce a shared knowledge between the securitizing actors and the audiences, which contributed to the securitization move being successful, and legitimised the eventual invasion in the eyes of the Russian public.