Putin's Claims on the War in Ukraine: A Pragmatic Study

Abstract

The present study was devoted to the pragmatic investigation of Putin’s claims on the war in Ukraine. Putin, as a political figure, adopted different manipulative and persuasive strategies in his speeches to justify his decisions regarding the war in Ukraine. The strategies he utilised were believed to contain different pragmatic aspects and interpretations. Therefore, this study aimed at identifying the pragmatic aspects which were found in the selected speech and figuring out the logicality of Putin’s claims and justification concerning the addressed issue. The study was a qualitative in nature which was based on an eclectic model that included Walton’s (1995) and Johnson’s (2000) theories of fallacies and argumentation. One of Putin’s speeches, in which he addressed the Security Service Board, was selected as a sample of the current study. After analysing the selected data, it was assured that Putin used different pragmatic strategies via which he intended to manipulate and convince his audience of the logicality of his claims and justification. The criteria that he violated and the pragmatic devices which he depended on proved him to be illogical and his decisions were unreasonable.