Abstract
Before 2014 Putin used semantic structures characteristic of authoritarianism and façade democracy to shape Russian political discourse. After the annexation of Crimea, we identify the decrease of authoritarian discursive elements, the occurrence of references to democratic values, and the prevalence of totalitarian discursive elements. This quantitative alteration co-occurred with a qualitative change of the intensity of totalitarian gnosis that increased from the low to the moderate extent. This paper aims to examine the extent of the intensity of totalitarian political gnosis in Putin's most influential speeches: the annual Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly, and the president's annual news conference.
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