Russian Nationalism Research Articles

Fighting the Online War: Online Russian Nationalists and the Discourse of Stalingrad in the Early 2010s

Abstract Memory of the Battle of Stalingrad, a pivotal moment in Second World War, is a cornerstone of Vladimir Putin’s nationalist mythology. This study examines how participants of the “In the Whirlwind of Time” forum, a Russian-language online community whose usage peaked in the early 2010s, perpetuated and reinterpreted this war myth through science fiction and alternate history narratives at a grassroots level by co-writing literary texts. “Myth” is defined here as a symbolic narrative that shapes collective memory and identity, through science fiction and alternate history narratives. Writers, driven by nationalist and pro-Soviet sentiments, were informed by Soviet-era literary traditions and modern sociopolitical concerns. Engaging in a collaborative process of memory-making, they merged historical fiction with futuristic elements such as time travel to craft stories where the annihilation and resurrection encoded in the Stalingrad myth solve present-day moral and political crises. By conducting a Critical Discourse Analysis of forum postings and demonstrating how the resultant discourses are present in three key works, the article outlines the norms of the forum’s discourse community to show how these narratives foster a mythic understanding of Stalingrad, transforming it into a timeless and universal battle against purported Western immorality. These stories not only glorify the Soviet past but also serve as ideological tools that both reflect and anticipate Russian state propaganda of the 2020s, suggesting the participatory nature of national identity shaping through mythmaking—and the crucial role that war played in grassroots nationalist narratives in the 2010s.

KONSPEKT LEKCJI DLA SZKÓŁ SAMOZWAŃCZEJ ŁUGAŃSKIEJ REPUBLIKI LUDOWEJ STRUKTURNYY PLAN UROKA NA TEMU «MOJA ISTORIJA» (2022) JAKO PRZYKŁAD TEKSTU PROPAGANDOWEGO

The article analyses the lesson plan for self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic’s schools Strukturnyy plan uroka na temu «Moya istoriya», mainly considering linguistic manipulations about Ukraine and Ukrainians. This texts is an example of propaganda text. Its appeals to earlier propaganda linguistic codes: tsarist (idea of triune Russian nation, onomastics Malorossiya, Novorossiya), Soviet (terms bratskiy narod, vossoyediniye, myth of Great Patriotic War and common work), also appeal to Putin’s statements and current propaganda (“sham” incorporation of Crimea and Donbas into Ukraine, supposed Ukrainian lack of national difference, any Ukrainian national movement identified with “Banderites” and “Neo-Nazis”). Its creates distinct biased view of history and Russian-Ukrainian relations.

Опосредованный виртуальный диалог в социальных сетях на фоне непосредственного (живого) диалога: функциональные и структурные особенности (на материале общения в социальной сети ВКонтакте)

A virtual dialogue in social networks is functionally parallel to a live one. The authors applied Dialogical Linguistics and Internet Linguistics to compare the substantive and structural features of a virtual dialogue in social networks with an oral live dialogue. The research objective was to identify and describe the invariant and variable features of a virtual dialogue and a live one. The virtual dialogue in the VKontakte social network was represented by an open public dialogue, an open anonymous dialogue, and an open personified dialogue. They were obtained from posts and comments in the public Anonymous; posts and comments on the public page Vesti; posts and comments on personal home pages of native Russian speakers. The samples of live conversations came from the collection of The Living Speech of an Ural City (1995). The analysis parameters included the image of the addressee, the initial conversational turns, the modes of dialogue management, and the methods of structural organization. The analysis yielded a substantive and structural typology of a virtual dialogue in social networks.

Venäjän kääntäjien ja tulkkien kouluttajana 1981–2018

This article describes the history of Russian language translator training from an autoethnographic perspective, bringing out projects that are related to the author's own work tasks and research. The history of the Russian language translator training is viewed in relation to translator training as a whole and to the prevailing social context. The developments that stand out include, first, the practical orientation during the Soviet era with specific focus on trade in the 1980s, and second, the changes after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. These changes included an increase in the number of native Russian speakers studying translation, and the setting up of permanent lecturers' positions for native Russian language teachers. More recent history, the 2000s and 2010s, was characterized by administrative reforms, the high number of bilingual students, and the increased relevance of working life in the training. This last development consisted of including various translation projects and an authorized translator's degree as part of the education. The article also examines the developments in translation research from the perspective of Russian. Finally, the changes that have taken place in the work environment of the trainers are discussed.

‘Let Them Hate, As Long As They Fear’: The Russian NS/WP Movement on Telegram

National Socialism/White Power (NS/WP) is a rhizomatic constellation of groupuscules that praise ‘direct action’ and violence against the ‘anti-Russian’ regime. It enjoys online affordances, having chosen Telegram as the safest alternative to mainstream social media. Frequency and co-occurrence network analysis of the Oderint, Dum Metuant channel’s discourse revealed the movement’s preoccupation with ideological matters and practical instructions for adherents on how to secure communications, produce explosives, and conduct terror attacks. In the context of violence escalation and an ideological vacuum, the skills and distinct ideological profile of NS/WP can make it a viable actor amongst the Russian nationalist youth.

FEATURES OF EASTERN VOCABULARY

The vocabulary of the Russian language is in a state of continuous change and development and, from the point of view of origin, includes native Russian and borrowed words, including Eastern vocabulary. Eastern vocabulary defines a national, distinctive intonation, that allows one to convey the life of the people, their interests, and beliefs more vividly and figuratively.

The Second Coming of Rodina: The Role of a Nonparliamentary Party in Putin’s Managed Nationalism

Abstract This article examines the unexpected revival of Rodina (Motherland), a nationalist party that had been suppressed in 2006 for its embrace of “orangist,” anti-Putin politics. Five years later, Rodina was relaunched in response to the crisis of the Medvedev–Putin “tandemocracy.” This article shows that Rodina played a central role in the Kremlin’s “managed nationalism,” which sought to direct the energies of Russian nationalists into loyalist channels. In particular, it illuminates three ways that Rodina facilitated collaboration between nationalists and the regime. First, it helped to integrate nationalists into the All-Russia Popular Front, the umbrella structure that was created as a vehicle for Putin’s return to the presidency. Second, it served as a counterrevolutionary force by drawing nationalists from the “white ribbon” protest movement into two Kremlin-supported initiatives: the “conservative turn” and a media campaign against non-Slavic immigration. And third, it acted as a proxy for the Russian state during the annexation of Crimea and the conflict in southeast Ukraine, recruiting nationalists to serve as separatists and cultivating the support of European radical nationalists. In these three ways, Rodina contributed both to Russia’s autocratization and to the growing influence of nationalist ideas in public discourse.

An Examination of the Influence of Soviet Educational Policies on the Evolution of Nationalism in the USSR

The role nationalism played in the collapse of the USSR always attracted much heated debate among historians and its importance ranged from irrelevant to contributory. This essay includes not only the importance of nationalism in the fall of the USSR but also the influence of Soviet education on the evolution of nationalism. The essay systematically scrutinizes the educational policies, institutions, and major reforms from 1917 to 1991 and analyzes the effectiveness of education, including history (the major social science subject) and the use of language, in controlling the development of nationalism. The Soviet education was to a large degree failing in controlling the development of nationalist sentiment, because of that the effort to build a transnational proletarian union was upset by the rhetoric of Russian chauvinism and nationalism and volatile policies about the language used in education from Koreniztsiya to Russification sent a warning signal to national minorities in the Soviet Union from Baltic states to Central Asian republics. The nationalism contributed to significant separatism in Georgia and the Baltic states, but its role was insignificant in the deterioration of allegiance to the Union in key republics, such as Ukraine and Russia.

Do L2 learners show attachment preferences? The processing of participial relative clauses in L2 Russian by English–Russian bilinguals

Aims and objectives: This study investigated whether first language (L1) English and second language (L2) Russian bilinguals are sensitive to structural information during L2 processing by testing their attachment preference when reading participial relative clauses with three preceding noun phrases in Russian. Methodology: The participants read sentences containing a participial relative clause preceded by three noun phrases connected by genitive marking and responded to comprehension questions by indicating which noun phrase the participial relative clause modified or that the sentence was ungrammatical. Their reading times and post-reading responses were recorded. Data and analysis: The reading times were log-transformed and fitted to a generalized linear mixed-effects model. Ungrammaticality judgment rates and noun phrase selection accuracy rates were fitted to generalized linear mixed-effects models using a binary logistic distribution. Findings: Reading times and ungrammaticality judgment rates showed that the participants preferred to attach the participial relative clause to the first and the third noun phrases. The second noun phrase was least preferred. These results contrast findings in previous studies, which have shown no attachment preference for L2 learners. We argue that the participants were sensitive to structural information, in that they were constrained by the recency preference and the predicate proximity effects, similar to native speakers. Originality: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that tested L2 learners with relative clauses preceded by three noun phrases and showed that L2 learners are also constrained by the recency preference and predicate proximity effects. Significance/Implications: We argue that our findings deviate from the null attachment preference found in previous studies, which has been used as evidence that L2 processing is fundamentally different from L1 processing. Our findings suggest that L2 learners were influenced by predicate proximity, similar to native Russian speakers, and were also mildly influenced by recency preference, which could be from this L1.

Князь Серебряный и князь Мышкин: образ «положительно прекрасного» героя у А. К. Толстого и Ф. М. Достоевского

The article offers a study of the images of Prince Nikita Serebryany in the historical work of the same name by A. K. Tolstoy and Prince Lev Myshkin in the novel by F. M. Dostoevsky «The Idiot» in light of the concept of a «positively beautiful» person. It is noted how important and how difficult it was for both writers to create an extraordinary image of a hero who is sharply different from those around them and at the same time captivates the hearts of other characters and the reading audience. The main characteristics of the central characters in the novels are traits inherent in a Christian personality: sincerity, straightforwardness, a childishly open heart, the absence of selfish aspirations that are perceived in society as stupidity; patriotism and devotion to Orthodoxy as the spiritual foundation of the Russian nation. The images of Serebryany and Myshkin are united by their key motives of foolishness and self-sacrifice, which symbolize their special mission – to serve as moral guidelines for a society that has lost its ideals; become a seed from which goodness and truth can sprout in future generations. Numerous echoes and connections in the plot and figurative structure of the works under study have been identified, which allows us to conclude that when creating the image of Prince Myshkin, Dostoevsky used not only the experience of European classics (Cervantes, Dickens, Hugo), but was also inspired by the artistic example of his compatriot, A. K. Tolstoy.

The Constitutional Foundations of the Russian State Policy in the Field of Family Protection and Traditional Family Values

The paper presents an analysis of constitutional provisions aimed at protecting the family in various periods of Russian statehood, shows the multi-vector nature of state policy in the field of family relations in the Soviet period, characterizes the family and demographic policy of the post-Soviet period, analyzes the constitutional novelties of 2020 aimed at strengthening the family and the spiritual and moral values of Russian society. An analysis of the constitutional category of «traditional family values» is carried out from the perspective of the needs of the individual, family as a social group and the importance of family for society and the state. The institution of family is considered as an intrinsic value and a basic determinant of the formation of the spiritual and moral heritage of Russian society, the preservation of the cultural identity of the Russian nation. The author provides the data from an official survey involving Russians that testifies to the attitude towards the family. The article also outlines the results of a research conducted by domestic scientists stating the unfavorable transformational processes taking place with the institution of family in the past 30 years. These include voluntary childlessness and celibacy; postponing the birth of children to later age periods; reducing the value of a family with several children; preference among young people for actual marital relations (common-law marriage) to a registered marriage. The author considers the protection of the family and family values as a task for ensuring the national security of Russia, the solution of which is aimed at preserving the all-Russian identity, sustainable development of the state, preservation of socially significant spiritual and moral values. The author substantiates the proposal on the need to form in society the idea of the importance of the family as a value in itself, which implies a responsible attitude to marriage, birth and upbringing of children, encouragement and support of a multigenerational and large family, respect for the elderly, disapproval of the rejection of the birth and upbringing of children.

The Fate of Employees of the Lithuanian Forest Industry 1939–1953

The article explores the fate of employees of the Lithuanian State Forest Industry, a separate branch of the economy, between 1939 and 1953, the staffing policy in this industry and specific features and results of its implementation. The forest was the location closely associated with the post-war resistance struggle, because a large number of partisan headquarters and hideouts were located in the forests. As a result, the work of forestry professionals and foresters and their attitude to events of that time were very important both to resistance fighters and the occupational government structures. The majority of them were under pressure to ‘double deal’, with the result that many left their jobs voluntarily as such conditions were not acceptable to them. The article explores all the events related to the turnover and fate of staff in chronological order: their deaths due to all possible reasons, including at the hands of their own partisans or the collaboration of foresters with the Nazis and the Soviet forces; various reprisals – from deportations and labour camps to violence; emigration to the west and the east due to political reasons; repatriation; peculiarities of employment of people who returned after deportation and imprisonment; the extent of employment of staff of Russian and other nationalities in the post-war years in the Lithuanian forestry system, etc. If the number of full time employees of the industry at the beginning of the Second World War (3,900 people) is held as a point of reference, major losses of the industry can also be expressed in the following figures: one in every eleven employees of this industry was killed; one in four employees suffered reprisals and were sentenced for various periods of time; and one in three suffered physical or moral violence. In the post-war years, only 75 Russian-speaking employees were recruited to the Lithuanian State Forest Industry and after Stalin’s death, over 1,000 of people who returned after deportation and imprisonment were employed.

The Ideological Apologetics of the Communist Party during Suppression of Lithuanian National Resistance (1944–1953)

After WWII, the second wave of Stalinist terror initiated by the USR acquired special features in Lithuania. The suppression of national resistance, Sovietisation of the country, and destruction of national identity by combining terror, repression and ideological propaganda took place throughout the country. In the resolutions adopted by the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) (AUCP[B]) between 1944 and 1948 on the political situation in Lithuania, the demand was made to destroy the ideology and social basis of the national underground movement and to expel the nation’s aspirations for freedom from its consciousness as soon as possible. Destruction of the spiritual life and identity of the nation was initially carried out by promoting contempt for the nation’s historical past and culture and promoting vandalism. Spiritual and physical terror became the everyday reality of Lithuania’s political life. The national attitudes of the intelligentsia and their attempts to preserve spiritual values that had formed over the years became the cause of never-ending persecution and reprisals against them. One goal was to use a certain part of the intelligentsia for the dissemination of the Soviet ideology. The intention was to bridge the gap that emerged after the repressive measure that caused the emigration of intellectuals to the West. Propaganda and mass political agitation became an important area of ideological activity of the Soviet regime and accompanied spiritual terror and implementation of Communist ideology based on Stalinist dogmas. The Soviet press was full of vitriolic condemnation of the “enemies of the people” and euphoric praise of Stalin and his henchmen. With the help of the press, the Soviet regime hoped to purge ideas about the nation’s freedom from people’s consciousness. Under the veil of Soviet patriotism and proletarian internationalism, Russian nationalism was forced down people’s throats, the role of Russia as the elder brother was constantly emphasised, the spiritual values of the nation were derogated, the nation was humiliated, and it became increasingly difficult to communicate in the native Lithuanian language. The Communist regime created a social environment that it hoped would help to destroy the resistance movement as soon as possible. With the help of the government and the organisations of the Communist Party, society was divided and one social stratum was pitted against the other. By combining repression and ideological measures, the Communist Party eroded the typical mutual relationship of trust that had formed over centuries in the nation.

PATRIOTISM ACTUALIZATION PRACTICESIN THE MEDIA SPACE OF THE NORTH CAUCASUS FEDERAL DISTRICT

The topicality of the study is due to modern socio-cultural challenges and the constant interest of domestic and foreign scientists in the topic of Patriotism and the Media.The study aimed to specify the most significant ways of actualizing the idea of patriotism in the information space of the North Caucasus. It involved a number of tasks: to identify the peculiarities of the information agenda in the regional media discourse on patriotism; to consider within the framework of critical discourse analysis the choice of actors of a discursive event and the study of discursive strategies in terms of their categorization and nomination; to determine the interpretation and basis of patriotism and the heroes who represent it in media texts. The source base of the study included 3832 patriotism-related media texts selected using the media database and the contextual search system of the information and analytical system Medialogy over three months (from April 1 to June 30, 2023).It has been specified that the main emphasis in the information agenda related to patriotism in the information space of the North Caucasus is placed on the representation of patriotic practices, including those thematically related to the North Caucasus Military District. The second most common reason for including the concept of patriotism in the information agenda was the speech of officials. Such a choice of social actors by the media certainly allows broadcasting the position of the authorities, but at the same time is not sufficient to form and reflect the public opinion. Opinion leaders’ point of view (religious figures, prominent scientists, athletes, people of culture, etc.) is poorly represented, and ordinary citizens are represented sporadically.The study showed that the media of the North Caucasus Federal District most often saw the Great Victory and episodes of the Great Patriotic War as reasons for patriotism, and the heroes representing Russian patriotism were participants and veterans of the Great Patriotic War.

Multi-Agent Approach to Political Discourse Translation: From Large Language Models to MAGIC-PTF System

This research addresses the automated translation of Chinese political discourse into Russian utilizing Large Language Model (LLM) optimization technologies and a multi-agent approach. The study focuses on developing the MAGIC-PTF system, which implements multi-stage text processing through the interaction of four specialized agents. The system's key component is the Style Agent, which ensures stylistic uniformity and terminological accuracy based on a specifically trained LLM. The Translator Agent performs the primary translation work and is responsible for the final text formatting. The Editor Agent conducts multi-level verification and correction of translations, considering linguistic, semantic, and cultural aspects. The Reader Agent analyzes the text from the target audience's perspective, evaluating its reception by native Russian speakers. The methodology integrates LLM optimization technologies and a multi-agent approach, with experimental testing conducted on the fourth volume of "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China" and its official Russian translation. The study includes a comprehensive analysis of system effectiveness using the COMET metric and comparative testing with existing machine translation platforms. The research's scientific novelty lies in developing a methodology for applying LLMs to specialized translation tasks and creating an effective coordination mechanism for intelligent agents in the translation process. Experimental research demonstrated MAGIC-PTF's superiority over traditional machine translation systems in key parameters: terminological accuracy, stylistic consistency, and preservation of culture-specific elements in political discourse. The developed system opens new possibilities for automated translation of political discourse and can be adapted for translating other specialized text types, confirming its significance for modern translation technology development. Of particular value is the system's scalability and adaptability to various language pairs and discourse types, creating prospects for further development in automated specialized text translation. The research findings also contribute to advancing the theory and practice of LLM application in professional translation.

Russians’ Attitudes Towards the War in Ukraine

ABSTRACTThe Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused considerable military casualties on both sides and widespread harm to Ukrainian civilians. While polls suggest that a slim majority of Russians endorse the invasion, the factors underpinning this support remain uncertain. We investigated factors associated with support for the war among Russians. In three large, diverse, samples of Russian adults (total N = 2856), we extend the dual process motivational model to the context of international warfare, focusing on two key ideologies: right‐wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO). Consistent with polling data, we find that approximately half of the participants support the war. Across studies, RWA, especially its submission facet, emerges as a strong and consistent predictor of increased support for the war in Ukraine. In contrast, the associations with SDO are weaker and more inconsistent, with anti‐egalitarianism playing only a minor role in opposing peace efforts. Additionally, factors such as Russian identification, nationalism, group efficacy, war‐related misperceptions and collective narcissism also contribute to war support. Our findings suggest that Russian support for the war may reflect broader support for the existing regime with backing for the military intervention serving as a demonstration of loyalty to Vladimir Putin and his government.

Taking Putin’s jokes seriously: what does gender-based humor tell us about Russia’s ontological insecurity, masculinity, and construction of gendered hierarchies?

ABSTRACT The article analyzes President Vladimir Putin’s gender-based humor as a way of exploring Russia’s ontological insecurity. Our research explores how Russia’s masculine ontological insecurities are trapped in the realities of patriarchy challenged in a contemporary globalized world. We integrate a constructivist ontology with poststructuralist attention to language to understand the role of gender-based humor in the (re)production of gendered hierarchies, and therefore in sustaining Russia’s ontological security. To achieve our goal, we examined 29 videos of Putin’s speeches broadcast between 2012 and 2022 through the lenses of “feminization” and “masculinization.” The study concludes that it is necessary to take political humor seriously. Its deployment helps Putin to maintain a consistent narrative of Russian self-identity based on associations with masculinity and the feminization of the Russian nation and its foes in the eyes of a conservative segment of the Russian populous. Ultimately, such humor aims to alleviate feelings of insecurity and anxiety, maintaining a heteronormative gendered order in Russian foreign affairs.

Russia's National Security Policy in Facing the Dynamics of Threats and Global Challenges: a Critical Analysis

Russia's National Security Policy in Facing the Dynamics of Threats and Global Challenges: a Critical Analysis

Оценка взаимосвязи брачно-миграционных характеристик населения Белгородской области в динамике за 130 лет

Background: The importance of studying the dynamics of the population-demographic structure of the population of the south of Central Russia over several generations dictates the need to conduct this study. The aim of the study: Assessment of the relationship between marriage and migration characteristics of the population of the Belgorod region over 130 years. Materials and methods: The object of the study is the Belgorod region (Belgorod, Grayvoronsky, Korochansky, Novooskolsky, Starooskolsky, Valuysky, Krasnogvardeysky and Alekseevsky (formerly Biryuchansky) districts (uezds). The dynamics of population-demographic indicators (migration parameters, isolation by Maleko distance, marriageable age, nationality of spouses) were studied over the past 130 years in the context of 5 time periods. The material was the data of 39,130 marriage records of acts of church and parish books of the Civil Registry Office Archive of the Belgorod Region of the late 19th century and civil status acts of the regional Civil Registry Office archive. In order to assess the relationship between the isolation parameters, Maleko distance and other population-demographic indicators, a correlation analysis (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient) was carried out. Results: Marriage and migration indicators are characterized by pronounced interrelated dynamics. Over the 130-year period, there was an increase in the proportion of heterolocal marriages (by 11 times), the level of local inbreeding (by 2 times), and the root-mean-square distances between the places of birth of spouses, taking into account long-distance migrations (by 6.9 times) and without them (by 13.3 times), effective migration pressure (1.5 times), age of marriage for men (from 24.12 to 30.98 years) and women (from 20.5 to 28.71 years), expansion of the national composition. The root-mean-square distances between the places of birth of spouses, taking into account long-distance migrations, were positively correlated with the proportion of men of other nationalities (r=0.90) and women of Ukrainian nationality (r=0.90), and the root-mean-square distances between the places of birth of spouses without taking into account long-distance migrations were negative correlations with the proportion of men (r= -0.90) and women (r=0.90) of Russian nationality and positive correlations with the proportion of women of other nationalities (r=0.90). Conclusion: In the Belgorod region, over the past 130 years, an increase in the root-mean-square distances between the places of birth of spouses, taking into account long-distance migrations, led to an increase in the proportion of men of other (except Russian and Ukrainian) nationalities and the share of women of Ukrainian nationality, and an increase in the root-mean-square distances between the places of birth of spouses without taking into account longdistance migrations led to a decrease in the share of men and women of Russian nationality and an increase in the share of women of other nationalities.

Everyday foreign policy: performing and consuming the Russian nation after Crimea

Everyday foreign policy: performing and consuming the Russian nation after Crimea