Russian Government Research Articles

Russia Weaponization of Canada's Far Right and Far Left to Undermine Support for Ukraine.

This article details the Russian government's efforts to influence Canadians' perceptions of the war in Ukraine. Specifically, we examined Russian information campaigns tailored to Canadian audiences on X (formerly known as Twitter) and the supportive ecosystems of accounts that amplify those campaigns. By 2023, this ecosystem included at least 200,000 X accounts that have shared content with millions of Canadians. We identified ninety accounts with an outsized influence. The vast majority of the influential Canadian accounts were far right or far left in orientation. These networks were among Canada's most prolific and influential political communities online. We determined this by comparing these networks' potential influence to the online community engaging with Canada's 338 members of Parliament on X and a sample of twenty influential X accounts in Canada. The sophistication and proliferation of Canada-tailored narratives suggest a highly organized and well-funded effort to target Canadian support for Ukraine.

Theoretical Foundations of the Foreign Economic Relations Strategy of the Russian Federation at the Present Stage

Introduction. The author of this text is convinced that in the modern world foreign economic relations remain a crucial way of maintaining economic activity. Sustainable economic relations with other states are a necessary condition for the country's economic growth. However, due to changes in the global financial, economic and political systems, Russia is forced to look for new economic and political allies. The main task for our country is to establish close and mutually beneficial relations with the leading countries of the East, such as China and India, in order to ensure economic security in the face of possible isolation in the international arena.Materials and methods. The methodological basis of this research was made up of general scientific and special research methods, such as induction and deduction, analysis and synthesis, classification, comparative, descriptive, comparative, logical, structural-functional methods, various methods of statistical analysis. The author of the study used tabular and graphical forms of representation of the processes and phenomena under consideration.Research results. The study revealed that Russian government authorities use various tools to maintain foreign trade and ensure economic security in the context of anti-Russian sanctions. The balance between protectionist and free trade policies depends on the situation in international markets, the geopolitical situation in the world, but especially on the level of competitiveness. The introduction of sanctions by the collective West has become the main factor, changing the foreign economic situation for Russia in 2022. Russia’s new foreign economic strategy is based on the search for friendly partners, willing to purchase sanctioned goods. Thanks to this strategy, Russia was able to reorient foreign economic relations towards Asia and the Middle East, as well as to establish parallel imports while maintaining competitiveness and even increasing foreign trade turnover.Discussion and conclusion. The need for Russia to enter the Chinese and Indian trade markets and to strengthen foreign economic relations with Asia is substantiated; the main groups of goods that can contribute to the development of mutually beneficial exchange and strengthening of economic cooperation between these countries are analyzed; the possibility and importance of further development of foreign economic relations with Asian states, which can become no less important and useful partners for Russia than the former states of Europe, have been proven.

Oikophobia and the crisis of modern Western civilization

The subject of this article is the phenomenon of oikophobia, which in recent decades has attracted the attention of philosophers, political scientists, sociologists and psychologists who tend to interpret it as the origin of many crisis phenomena affecting the modern Western civilization. The term has been used in political contexts to refer critically to political ideologies that are perceived as responsible for repudiating one's own culture, history, traditions and laud others. The simplest way of defining oikophobia is as the opposite extreme of xenophobia. As xenophobia means the fear or hatred of strangers or foreigners, reversely oikophobia means the fear or hatred of home or one's own society or civilization, oikos being the ancient Greek word for home, house, household. The article reveals the essence and content, characteristic manifestations of oikophobia in its narrow and broad meanings, the historical, cultural and intellectual background and sources of its origin and development. The author identifies signs of oikophobia in a number of key political, philosophical and ideological paradigms and concepts. Based on our findings, we suggest that various manifestations of oikophobia, especially those that may provide the ideological basis for mass protest movements, pose a serious challenge to public policy and government institutions not only in Western countries, but also in Russia. Government bodies and non-governmental organizations involved in the process of policy formulation in the spheres of security, information and education should pay attention to the threats and challenges that government institutions in the USA, Great Britain and a number of other Western countries have already dealt with. In our opinion, one of the most relevant areas of interaction between the Russian government and civil society in the field of countering the manifestations of oikophobia should be formulating general criteria for identifying Russophobia, which could be applied not only in the field of scientific research and educational practices, but also in the field of lawmaking and law enforcement.

Beware the puppeteers: the role of geopolitics in the bargaining dynamics between a Russian politically connected MNC and the country of Montenegro

PurposeThis paper aims to use the obsolescing bargaining power (OBP) Model (Vernon, 1977, 1998) to analyze the case of United Company Rusal, a Russian politically connected multinational companies (MNCs) that was one of the world’s largest aluminum companies between 2005 and 2014, having acquired and, ultimately, sold the Montenegrin aluminum smelter company Kombinat aluminijuma Podgorica.The authors did so with the aim of answering the following question: How do geopolitics affect the bargaining balance of power between a Russian MNC and a host country? Design/methodology/approachThe authors used the discourse analysis methodology to identify the key players in the bargaining process and illustrate the evolving bargaining process.FindingsThe authors demonstrated that, over time, the shift in power from the Russian MNC to the host government had not merely been the result of the increase in committed MNC assets in the host country but, rather, of a geopolitical chess game involving the Russian Government, North Atlantic treaty organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU). By extending the OBP model with geopolitics, the authors found that a political agenda can influence the outcome of a bargaining process.Originality/valueThe authors extended the OBP model to illustrate the complex interaction between an emerging market MNC and an emerging host country government, indirectly influenced by two supranational organizations – the EU and NATO.

РАЗРАБОТКА БАЗОВЫХ ПОДХОДОВ К ПРИВЛЕЧЕНИЮ И УДЕРЖАНИЮ КАДРОВ В ГОРОДАХ НАУКИ И ВЫСОКИХ ТЕХНОЛОГИЙ

In modern Russia, the problem of technological sovereignty and import substitution of high-tech products is acute. To solve the problems set by the Russian government, it is necessary to launch the production of a wide range of high-tech products as soon as possible. The implementation of the plans is impossible without solving the key tasks of introducing modern technological equipment and increasing human resources. At the moment, a prompt solution to these problems is required, and the previously developed and adopted territorial development strategies assume a long-term perspective. The main scientific organizations and high-tech businesses are located in large regional centers, as well as in small towns with high scientific and technological potential. In large regional centers, a scientific and technological ecosystem has historically been formed, allowing for the creation of conditions for the development of high technologies and scientific research. The situation is more complex in small core cities with pronounced scientific and technological specialization in centers of scientific and technological leadership. At the present stage, the main problem in the development of such cities is attracting and retaining highly qualified personnel. It is necessary to take into account the fact that attracting and retaining specialists are two related processes, but different in essence. The first is characterized by the migration activity of the population, the second - by satisfaction with living in the territory and working conditions. Most often, the factors influencing these processes have common directions, but differ from each other in their characteristics and content. When deciding on a place of work, a specialist evaluates the proposed conditions that are related to his expectations. When retaining specialists, realities are compared with the expectations that were when hired. If they do not comply, the specialist leaves the place of work. In this regard, it is important for the management of the territory and organizations to minimize the differences between expectations and the actual state of the labor and urban environment in order to retain high-level specialists. The work examines the main factors influencing and allowing to solve the problems of attracting and retaining talented youth and highly professional specialists in cities with high scientific and technological potential, taking into account modern realities and requirements. Research shows that the main factor ensuring the attraction of talented youth is the availability of high wages. It is a necessary but not sufficient condition for their retention. Additional factors play an important role in retaining specialists, including modern sociocultural and comfortable urban space, which includes various aspects of the lives of specialists and their families.

САНКЦИИ КАК ДВИЖУЩАЯ СИЛА РАЗВИТИЯ ЭКОНОМИКИ РОССИИ

The article examines the role of sanctions as a driving force in the development of the Russian economy. The study is based on an analysis of the impact of sanctions on various sectors of the Russian economy and their impact on the country's development trends. Both positive and negative aspects of the impact of sanctions on the economy are considered, and their role in stimulating internal changes and modernization of the economy is assessed. The article also analyzes the strategies adopted by the Russian government in response to sanctions and their effectiveness in achieving economic goals. Based on existing data and economic trends, the author draws conclusions about how sanctions shape Russia's economic dynamics and affect its development in the long term.

The Comintern and the National and Colonial Question: the Roots of Soviet Anti-Imperialism and Anti-Racism Reconsidered

Abstract With Russia’s escalation in Ukraine, many long-standing positions and relationships have become much more complicated. Many nations in the Global South have elected to remain neutral to avoid damaging their long-standing relations with Russia, which they rely on for political or economic stability. The Russian government has instrumentalized this history of Russian and Soviet support for anti-imperialism to buoy its own relations with the Global South. This support has its roots in the Comintern period when the Communist International promoted anti-imperialism, anti-racism, and self-determination of nations. These efforts, in turn, helped develop the image of the Soviet Union as an anti-imperial bulwark, while also providing an alternate path in which many nations in the Global South found inspiration following the Second World War. This thought piece reconsiders the history of the Comintern to ask fresh questions about its role in anti-imperial and anti-racist movements. In doing so, it calls for a greater attention to the limitations of the Soviet regime during the interwar period, and a reconsideration of the imperial actions of the Soviet Union as relates to this history. It also explores how the history of the Comintern and the complicated history of Soviet support for global decolonization in the interwar period remains relevant to contextualizing present-day reactions to Russian aggression in Ukraine and why, despite the correctives of the post-Cold War period, historians now need to ensure further complexities in this history are not overlooked in the instrumentalization of this history promoted by Russia following February 2022.

USE AND REGULATION OF FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT: NEW PARADIGM

According to international organizations data, global FDI flows dropped considerably in 2022.The article discusses certain global long-term trends and pressing problems of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Global Value Chains (GVC) in Russia and abroad. This paper provides key indicators published by international organizations, such as IMF, OECD and others in 2023. The author offers a relatively non-customary approach to the study of FDI and GVC - through the analysis of international migration of factors of production (capital and labor). The author examines the interaction between these two types of international resource transfers and comes to a paradoxical conclusion that the radical change of Russia’s economic relations with Western countries in 2022-2023 was logical and predictable. A relatively non-customary approach is due to the fact that in May 2023 the Russian President and Government emphasizes the importance to develop an action plan to implement the 2023-2025 State Migration Policy Conception. According to OECD data, Russia as a recipient of FDI recorded negative inflow in 2022, but the paper provides a long-term view on the subject. Finally, the author substantiates the need to revise certain principles of Russia’s foreign economic policy as well as theoretical courses on International Economics in educational institutions.

Russian regions in wartime: fiscal and economic effects of the Russo-Ukrainian war

ABSTRACT This article addresses the economic and fiscal consequences of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine for subnational governments in Russia. Using annual fiscal and economic data, we study how different groups of regions have been affected by the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war. Despite the Russian economy being more resilient to a sanctions shock than initially predicted, we document several important negative tendencies at the regional level, sometimes overlooked in policy discussions and the literature on economic sanctions. In this article, we present new regional data and focus on the effects of the war on overall regional tax collections in 2022–2023, as well as the dynamics of different types of regional and federal taxes. We identify several groups of “winners” (oil- and gas-extracting regions, weapons-producing regions, and the largest city-regions) and “losers” (regions that share a border with Ukraine and regions with sanctions-prone industrial specializations) and discuss the prospects of their resilience.

The effect of migration on economic and productivity growth in Russia

This research endeavors to delve into the impact of migration flows on the nation’s economic and productivity growth based on panel data from 80 Russian states for the period of 2015–2021. Our research aims to induce migration policies for the sustainable income and productivity growth of Russia. From the baseline regression analysis with state fixed effects and additional analysis with state random effects and the two-step system GMM, we found a positive impact of migration growth rate on per capita and TFP and the heterogeneity of its effects depending on the Russian regions. It indicates that migration outflows negatively influence the regional economies of Russia and suppress regional economic growth and the positive effects of migration inflows are the strongest shown in less populated states in the Siberian and Far Eastern Federal Districts. This is evidence of the negative effects of migration outflows, which are summarized by the exodus of labor and the loss of tax revenues. The Russian government should implement migration policies both in international and domestic contexts to attract migrants, considering that Russia suffers from outflows of skilled workers to other countries and unbalanced domestic migration flows to west Russia. To reduce migration outflows of workers to other countries, quality jobs should be created (through an increase in R&D), and other incentives and subsidies can be provided to encourage emigrants to return to Russia. For the migration inflows of small regions in Russia, domestic and foreign investment should be promoted to create jobs and establish infrastructure, which can also help slow down immigration from these regions.

Al-Jazeera Arabic and Al-Jazeera English headlines on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict: a Hallidayan transitivity analysis

ABSTRACT Research in communication studies has suggested that Al-Jazeera produces different versions of news stories for different audiences. Yet, examining the linguistic means used to create these versions has remained under-researched. Drawing on Fairclough’s three-dimensional model (1992) and Halliday’s transitivity model (1985), this study aims at exploring how Al-Jazeera Arabic (AJA) and Al-Jazeera English (AJE) discursively represented the participants involved in the 2022 Russo-Ukrainian conflict in headlines. The analysis of transitivity patterns in AJA and AJE headlines reveals both similar and different representations of the conflict. Although they avoided negative labeling of the Russian government, both channels ascribed conflict escalation to it, highlighting civilians suffering and protesting. Nevertheless, while AJE emphasized the Ukrainian government vulnerability, AJA presented the conflict as a confrontation between two symmetrical forces. Similarities are attributed to organizational and social institutional forces, while differences result from different editorial policies and audience preferences. As discursive and social practices, the headlines contribute to shaping audience perceptions of the conflict, with AJA challenging the prevailing western narrative of the conflict while AJE reinforcing it.

PERCEPTION OF RUSSIAN PANSLAVISM IN THE BRITISH PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES N THE BEGINNING OF THE EASTERN CRISIS OF THE 1870S

During the Eastern Crisis of the 1870s, the British political elites followed with particular attention the Panslavic ideas expressed in Russia and often perceived them as a threat of the Russian Empire’s expansion into the Balkan Peninsula. However, at the very beginning of the Eastern Crisis, the British Parliament’s attitude to the Russian Panslavism was neutral or even positive and it had a considerable impact on British-Russian relations. Britain’s perception of Russian Panslavism during this short but significant period has not been researched yet. This article uses the materials of parliamentary debates to trace the transformation of images of Russian Panslavism in the British political discourse in 1876 and to analyze the mechanisms of their construction. The author identifies three models of interpretation of Russia’s “Slavic interests”, first, as “Slavic sympathies” of the Russian population, second, as Russia’s “territorial ambitions”, and third, as “Russian intrigues”, which allegedly instigated Slav uprisings against the Ottoman Empire. In the summer of 1876, the interpretation of Panslavism as sincere sympathies of Russian society for its Slavic brothers received the greatest weight in the British political discourse. This interpretation contributed to the formation of a more positive image of Russia and even a temporary change in the pro-Turkish policy of the British government. However, by the late 1876, British politicians increasingly began to suspect the Russian government of “subversive Panslavism”. The formation of images of Russian Panslavism in the political discourse of Great Britain was influenced not only the traditional patterns of British foreign policy, but also by the internal political struggle that escalated during the “Bulgarian agitation”. Panslavism was also interpreted ambiguously due to the lack of information, so politicians often based their judgments on stereotypes about Russia, the Ottoman Empire and the Balkan peoples. Finally, parliamentarians’ views were also affected by a rethinking of their own British identity. British politicians revisited issues of relevance to Britain’s own attitudes to the sovereignty of empires, the uprisings of colonized peoples, moral responsibility and Britain’s international mission.

Русско-персидские школы как элемент реализации политики «мягкой силы» Российской империи в Северной Персии в конце XIX – начале XX в.

Introduction. The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries witnessed an intensified Russia–UK confrontation in Persia, which was paralleled by penetrations of other great powers (France, Germany, USA) into the Near and Middle East. Under those conditions, Russia’s traditional economic methods of influence in Persia became insufficient. Goals. The study seeks to examine the phenomenon of Russian educational institutions in Northern Persia as another way of pursuing own national political goals in the designated country. The work aims at confirming — with evidence from archival documents — the activities of Russian-Persian schools during the specified period were to shape a positive image of Russia in Persian society. Materials and methods. The most important sources characterizing the process of opening Russian-Persian schools in Northern Persia (their goals and objectives, training agenda, certain results) are documents of both central authorities and diplomatic, economic and military institutions of the Russian Empire to Persia discovered at the Russian State Historical Archive. Analytical and generalization methods — with comparative into historiographic and archival materials — have proved most instrumental therein. Results. The article identifies some prerequisites for the emergence of Russian-Persian schools in Northern Persia, determines the validity of their activities in this particular region of the country, clearly outlines the context of Russia’s competition with other governments in this matter to conclude as follows: the Russian government was perfectly aware of the need to open such schools that would disseminate the Russian language and Russia-related ideas among Persia’s population; graduates of those educational institutions would serve an important element in pursuing Russia’s interests both in trade, economy, and politics; despite various difficulties — primarily financial ones — the schools were popular enough among ethnic Persians both in Tehran and in other cities of Northern Persia.

TOLERANT AND INTOLERANT CONTENT OF ASSESSMENTS BY UKRAINIAN STUDENTS OF SUBJECTS SOCIAL AND POLITICAL LIFE

Relevance. The study focuses on the problem of the attitude of Ukrainians to "good Russians" under the influence of the Russia-Ukraine war. The opinion of student youth is of particular importance. Depending on the holding of a certain personal position, young respondents largely evaluate modern military and political phenomena and processes. Methodology. The task of the online survey of 2,202 students of 35 universities from different regions of Ukraine, conducted in the spring of 2022, was to assess the degree of guilt and effectiveness of the actions of agents of social, in particular, military and political processes. The questionnaire used 5-point scales of semantic differential and subjective scaling. According to the content of the evaluations of the crimes of the Russians and the Russian authorities before Ukrainians, four groups of respondents were distinguished. Their attitudes towards various social and ethno-political subjects are compared. Results. It was found that anti-Russian attitudes significantly prevail in students' evaluations of Russians and the Russian government. A relatively small part of the sample consisted of anti-Ukrainian, neutral and tolerant views towards Russians. The anti-Russian majority most clearly accuses subjects to whom it attributes signs of attraction to the "Russian world". The anti-Ukrainian minority evaluates them positively, but tends to blame Ukrainian society and the Ukrainian authorities. However, the positions of the anti-Russian majority and the anti-Ukrainian minority turned out to be close in their high assessment of the effectiveness of the Ukrainian government and the command of the Armed Forces. Respondents who try to choose neutral assessments partly avoid a clear choice, and partly hide their pro-Russian sentiments. "Tolerant" respondents, who condemn the Russian authorities, but do not condemn Russians, tend to blame all those in power and to excuse "ordinary people" regardless of their nationality or citizenship.

СЕВЕРО-СИБИРСКАЯ ЖЕЛЕЗНОДОРОЖНАЯ МАГИСТРАЛЬ: ИСТОКИ ЗАРОЖДЕНИЯ ИДЕИ

The paper, based on identified historical documents, presents aspects of the origin of the idea of building the North Siberian Railway. The purpose of the study is outlined - to reveal the features of the promotion of plans for the construction of new railway lines at the beginning of the 20th century. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that the work presents unpublished materials, in particular, those stored in the archives of the city of Yeniseisk. Archival documents testify to the results of the meeting on communication routes (Irkutsk, 1906), which laid the foundation for the transformation of railway, river and land transport communications in Siberia. The activities of the authorities of Siberian provinces and cities aimed at developing a network of transport communications are shown. One of the large-scale plans was the idea of building the Northern Highway - Tomsk-Yeniseisk-Kirensk-Amur Road. It was supposed to solve the problems of introducing the entire Northern Region to the common cultural life - from the Ob to the Amur, as well as creating a strong and reliable connection with the Far East. The Russian government supported the idea of Siberian cities, allocating state funds for technical research on the planned Tomsk-Yeniseisk railway line. In 1913, a survey party examined the railway route and put it on the map. However, these plans were not destined to come true at the beginning of the last century, as the time of great upheavals was approaching, which significantly changed all of Russia. At the same time, the focused efforts of researchers of the last century became the basis for the process of accumulating scientific and practical experience, which was necessary for developing concepts for the development of the eastern regions of the country at the beginning of the 21st century.

Tourism in Russia’s Altai Republic: Indigenous perceptions

ABSTRACT The government of Russia’s Altai Republic encourages tourism for local socio-economic development. The year 2020 brought 2.2 million visitors to the Altai Republic, an ecologically pristine but economically depressed region, with a population of just 220,200. Ethnic Russians constitute a majority of the Altai Republic’s citizenry, but Indigenous groups make up 34 percent of the population. Using surveys and interviews, this study analyzed perceptions of tourism among four rural Indigenous groups in 2018–2019 concerning maintaining local culture, improving the standard of living, and preserving the environment. Survey participants generally did not agree that tourism helps them to maintain local culture or to improve the local standard of living, although interview respondents gave positive and negative viewpoints. Both those surveyed and those interviewed expressed overwhelming concern for the preservation of the natural environment and alarm regarding illegal and excessive hunting by outsiders.

A multilingual analysis of pro Russian misinformation on Twitter during the Russian invasion of Ukraine

The Russian government has long since engaged in an information campaign of propaganda and disinformation as a major part of foreign policy. This has been taken to new heights since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In this study, we investigate pro-Russian misinformation within the opening weeks of the invasion in 6 languages: English, Japanese, Spanish, French, German, and Korean. Using Twitter data, we apply a combination of network and language embedding models to identify popular topics of misinformation amongst users in each language. Despite English users forming the most dominant language base on Twitter, we find that the popularity of misinformation in Japanese regularly outstrips English for certain topics. Misinformation shared by Spanish users is also over-represented in proportion to its much smaller user base. Our results provide insight into the current state of misinformation in each language. While we discuss some of the possible drivers behind the factors such as language over-representation, our study also highlights the need for further cross-lingual misinformation research in order to better understand this phenomena in a truly global context.

Институт «номинальный руководитель компании»: сущность, формы, мотивы и риски применения

The article is a multidimensional study of the institution of figurehead in the contexts of Russian corporate governance, legal regulation and judicial enforcement. Applying analytical methods of scientific research to analyze the institution of figurehead, the author seeks to consider various aspects of this institution, including its essence, forms, motives for use, punishability and associated risks. The work reveals the approach of Russian judicial practice to the definition of a “nominal leader” as a formal, not actual leader. The author hypothesizes that shadow corporate governance is one of the subsystems of the domestic shadow economy, and that “nominal management of the company’s operating practices” is a class of diverse structures, the generation of one part of which pursues frankly destructive goals in social terms, the other is situationally reasonable. Analyzing scientific publications, legislative acts, and judicial practice, the authors reveal individual forms of nominal management of a company: nominal shareholder, nominal company, nominal corporate act, nominal member of the board of directors, “multi-machine operator”, “technical premier”, member of the family business team, the executor of the instructions of the team of actual leaders, the textbook nominal director and situational-transit versions of the nominal leadership. The article highlights the risks of using forms of figurehead: a fundamental change in law enforcement practice, loss of time for management approvals, loss of confidential information, reputational and entrepreneurial, loss of business, withdrawal of assets and raider takeover. Administrative-legal, expert and corporate approaches are described in the discussion about the limits of punishment for “nominalities”, emphasizing the paradoxical nature of the institutional interpretation of the phenomenon of nominalities. In general, the article offers a broad scientific and applied discussion on interdisciplinary methodological grounds.

Russian-Persian Economic Relations in Early 20th Century: Road Construction

This article explores the history of the construction of one of the main transportation arteries in modern Iran: the Enzeli-Teheran highway with the Kazvin-Hamadan section. The road was funded by the Russian treasury and aimed to boost Russian-Persian trade by including not only the northern provinces of Persia but also the central part of the country. The intensification of trade was expected to occur through the introduction of automobile traffic on the highway, replacing the archaic caravan routes. The article presents the perspectives of both the Russian government of that period and entrepreneurial circles on the choice of road direction and the justification for transitioning to a new method of cargo delivery. It concludes that there were significant discrepancies in the positions of these parties. While the Russian government saw great geopolitical advantage in connecting the largest Enzeli port with Teheran and constructing the Kazvin-Hamadan branch linking northern Persia with its central part, entrepreneurs viewed it as a threat of European product penetration into northern Persia. Fortunately, the entrepreneurial community was not unanimous in its views, and a group emerged willing to embark on this new venture, promising to be successful and give a fresh impetus to Russian-Persian trade relations.

International Framing Competition Over the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ): A Comparison Between the American and Russian Media Framings

This article analyses the framing approaches of the Voice of America and Sputnik in the context of international framing competition since these are significant public diplomacy channels for the foreign policies of the United States and Russia. The paper questions how VOA and Sputnik frame the YPJ women by considering those countries’ policy objectives in Syria. Thematic content analysis and Robert Entman’s framing approach were applied. The paper indicates that there is a connection between policies of US and Russian governments during the Syrian civil war, particularly towards ISIS and framing tendencies of those government-sponsored media outlets over the YPJ women. While there was a consensus over the responsible agent (ISIS), framing competition has seen through factors affecting problem definition, solutions to this problem and moral justifications for the solution.