“We don’t abandon our own people”: public rhetoric of Russia’s governors during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine

Abstract

ABSTRACT The 2022 invasion of Ukraine tests the resilience of the authoritarian regime in Russia. Most of the elites showed their commitment to the autocrat by publicly supporting the “special military operation”. However, the intensity of their support has varied across the ranks. By examining Russian governors, I propose that elites vary their communicative responses to the war strategically, depending on their personal considerations and the structural characteristics of their regions. I apply text-as-data methods to analyze gubernatorial posts on the social network VKontakte in 2022–2023. I find that governors up for election, outsiders, with weaker political standing, and from poorer regions communicate more support measures for combatants and their families, and humanitarian aid to the annexed territories, when discussing the war in Ukraine. Therefore, by co-opting war-affected groups and emphasizing performance legitimacy, governors minimize the threat of anti-regime mobilization without resorting to large-scale repression and contribute to authoritarian resilience.