GENOCIDAL STRATEGIES REGARDING UKRAINE IN RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA DISCOURSE

Abstract

Among researchers and scholars of legal sciences, the issue of recognizing several crimes committed by Russia against Ukraine and its population as genocide is currently under discussion. Instead, at the level of media discourse, a number of researchers have determined that Russian propaganda discourse contains genocidal features (for example, M. Ryabchuk, T. Snyder). In particular, scientists take into account such strategies as denial of genocide as a strategy for committing genocide (S. Cohen, A. Jones), dehumanization and demonization (H. Stanton, B. Bahador), manipulative use of the term «genocide» by Russian propaganda (V. Romaniuk, O. Dudko, E. Fortuin). The purpose of the article is to determine the genocidal strategies regarding Ukraine in the Russian propaganda discourse based on their compliance with the ten stages of genocide developed by H. Stanton: 1. classification; 2. symbolization; 3. discrimination; 4. dehumanization; 5. organization; 6. polarization; 7. preparation; 8. persecution; 9. extermination; 10. denial. In the article, these stages are superimposed on the Russian propaganda media discourse and considered in the context of the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine. The compliance analysis was carried out based on the following criteria: intensity of hateful rhetoric, narrativization, and organization of the media system of the Russian Federation (level of state intervention in the agenda of information media resources). The case of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine on February 24, 2022, which was followed by mass killings of civilians, destruction of residential areas, and deprivation of living conditions of Ukrainians (such as shelling of energy infrastructure), was chosen for analysis. The article analyzes how the physical actions of the Russian Federation against Ukraine are reflected in the propaganda media discourse and how they correspond to the stages of committing genocide, according to H. Stanton. In particular, the stages of classification, symbolization, dehumanization, polarization, and extermination in the Russian propaganda discourse can be considered as a manifestation of hateful rhetoric of varying intensity by increasing it with each stage concerning a certain group. The stages of discrimination, preparation, persecution, and denial are mostly revealed at the level of narratives about Ukraine, and the stage of organization is revealed in the media system of the Russian Federation.