We Are No Longer Europeans: The Evolution of the Image of Europe and the West in Russian Strategic Documents (2007–2023)

Abstract

Since Vladimir Putin commenced his third presidential term in 2012, anti-Western and anti-European discourse has markedly intensified in both the Russian public sphere and the state-controlled media. Accusations levelled against the West and endeavours to underscore Russia’s moral and cultural pre-eminence have escalated in concert with the burgeoning tensions in Russia’s relations with the West. This crescendo of official Russian anti-Western sentiment is manifest in the pronouncements of Putin and other government officials subsequent to the initiation of Russia’s full-scale military aggression against Ukraine. This article aims to elucidate how this formalised anti-Western narrative has permeated Russian strategic documents pertinent to the security and foreign policy of the Russian Federation. An examination of documents promulgated in successive phases of Russia’s escalating conflict with the West (Phase 1: 2007–2014; Phase 2: 2014–2022; Phase 3: post-24th February 2022) reveals that anti-Europeanism and anti-Westernism, concomitant with a historiosophical conception of Russia as a distinct civilisation, have transitioned from the realm of political discourse and propaganda to codification in documents that guide Russian security and foreign policy, thus constituting a salient ideological component therein.