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ABSTRACT
In the context of Russia’s aggressiveness towards the ex-Soviet bloc since the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, Moscow’s messaging concerning other “spheres of interest’ has largely been overshadowed by Russia’s activities in its Eastern near abroad. This paper examines Moscow’s framings of the Arctic through the lenses of its Strategies from 2013 and 2020. The purpose is to extract the core strategic narratives and ‘read between the lines’ so that an evaluation can be made of how Moscow perceives the Arctic, defines its interests and assesses the prospect for future confrontation in the region. This provides the basis for the second part of the paper which investigates the way in which two Russian propaganda vectors – RT and Sputnik – presented Moscow’s strategic narratives for the Arctic between 2014 and 2021. Based on this analysis, the paper concludes that although RT and Sputnik act as vessels for Moscow’s strategic narratives, they also reveal Russia’s frustrations and misperceptions that are embedded in programmatic documents. The findings reinforce recent scholarly literature which claims that Russian media vectors of foreign propaganda are more complex than simple tools for disseminating misinformation and blatant lies.
KEYWORDS:
Acknowlegments
The research leading to these results has received funding from the EEA Grants 2014-2021, under Project ”Interdisciplinary Research on Russia’s Geopolitics in the Black Sea and the Arctic Ocean”, contract no. 35/2021.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Hønneland, Russia And The Arctic, 63.
2 Unified Effort.
3 Kremlin-Funded Media, 14.
4 Strategic Narratives. Communication Power and the New World Order.
5 Forging the World: Strategic Narratives and International Relations.
6 Strategic Narratives, 7.
7 Forging the World, Foreword.
8 Pamment, “Strategic Narratives in US Public Diplomacy”.
9 Bushel et al., “Strategic narratives in climate change”.
10 De Graaf, Dimitriu and Jens Ringsmose, Strategic Narratives, Public Opinion and War, xxiv-xxvii.
11 Ringsmose and Børgesen, “Shaping public attitudes towards the deployment of military power”.
12 Coticchia and De Simone, “The War That Wasn”t There?”.
13 Schmitt, “When are strategic narratives effective?”, 2.
14 Ibid.
15 Szostek, “The Power and Limits of Russia”s Strategic Narrative in Ukraine”.
16 Hutchings, Projecting Russia in a Mediatised World, 52.
17 “Destruct, direct and suppress”.
18 Carter and Carter, “Questioning More”, 51.
19 Smirnova, “The migration crisis in Europe”, 5–6.
20 Ibid.
21 “The US Presidential Election through a Russian Media Lens”.
22 “Anything that Causes Chaos”.
23 Watanabe, “Conspiracist propaganda”, 2–4.
24 Mansouri, “A radio station in Missouri continues broadcasting Kremlin-funded Radio Sputnik”.
25 “From Russia with Lols”.
26 Ibid., 5.
27 Ibid., 8–10.
28 Mölder and Shiraev, “Global Knowledge Warfare”, 24.
29 “Observatory Update: Mandarin-language Information Operations Regarding Russia”s Invasion of Ukraine”.
30 “Training of personnel for the arctic zone”.
31 Ignatiev, Bogushevich and Daramaeva, “Training of personnel for the arctic zone”, 3269.
32 Strategy for social and economic development for the Arctic Zone of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).
33 Bērziņa, “Foreign and Domestic Discourse on the Russian Arctic”, 5–6.
34 Русское географическое общество, “выступления в.в. Путина”.
35 “Expert Survey: How Will Climate Change Impact US-Russian Relations?”.
36 Konyshev, Sergunin, “Is Russia a revisionist military power in the Arctic?”, 324–5.
37 Bērziņa, “Foreign and Domestic Discourse on the Russian Arctic”, 8.
38 Konyshev, Sergunin, “Is Russia a revisionist military power in the Arctic?”, 324.
39 Ibid., 325.
40 Ibid.
41 Flake, “Contextualizing and Disarming Russia”s Arctic Security Posture”, 21.
42 “NGO Forum in Yugra Adopts Charter on Developing Arctic Regions,” Sputnik, 7 December 2016.
43 “Arctic Adventures: Russia Plans to Attract Tourists to Murmansk,” Sputnik, 29 March 2016.
44 E.g. “Russia to buy $1.5 billion worth of pipes to develop Arctic projects & pump gas to China,” RT, 7 June 2020; “Ticket to the modern Klondike: How New Delhi could get the keys to the Russian Arctic,” RT, 5 March 2020.
45 “Global investors ready to put $9.5 billion into Russia”s Arctic LNG 2 project – report,” RT, 18 September 2020.
46 “China Interested in Cooperation With Russia on Arctic Station Project,” Sputnik, 13 May 2021.
47 RT, 8 April 2015.
48 Sputnik, 28 May 2020.
49 “Climate Change Can “Make Russia Great Again”: Israeli Media Salivates Over Moscow”s Arctic Wealth,” Sputnik, 12 November 2019.
50 “Russia to make Northern Sea Route cheaper than Suez Canal as country seeks to benefit from Ever Given blockage & climate change,” RT, 1 April 2021.
51 “Putin announces new emission quotas & corporate responsibility for environmental damage as Russia begins to get tough on polluters,” RT, 21 April 2021.
52 “Finnish Activists to Carve US Leader’s Face on 35-Metre High “Trumpmore” of Ice,” Sputnik, 10 May 2018.
53 RT, 22 January 2021.
54 ‘Save the planet to stop Putin! NYT says Russia could dominate warming world – enough to make Americans wake up to climate change?,’ RT, 18 December 2020.
55 ‘Computer modelling for Covid-19 was FATALLY flawed. What if I told you that climate change models are even worse?,’ RT, 21 May 2020.
56 Ibid.
57 E.g. ‘Britain’s “backyard”? UK wants to deploy 800 troops to defend “interests” in the Arctic,’ RT, 30 September 2018; ‘Moscow Decries Arctic Militarisation, Concerned About Recent US Submarine Activity Near Russia,’ Sputnik, 13 May 2021.
58 E.g. ‘Sneak peak at Russia’s “under renovation” Arctic base,’ RT, 18 September 2014; ‘Russia Deploys S-400 to Arctic Only to Ensure National Security, Foreign Ministry Says,’ Sputnik, 28 July 2020.
59 E.g. ‘Russia to deploy bombers in the icy Arctic as US emphasizes the need to “maintain peace” in region ahead of crunch summit over territory,’ RT, 19 May 2021; ‘Rostec to Develop Arctic Version of Mi-26T2V Heavy Military Chopper Not Until Mid-2021,’ Sputnik, 23 July 2020.
60 E.g. ‘Putin: Russia’s Arctic fleet is strongest in the world & will continue to be,’ RT, 1 March 2018; ‘Three Russian Nuclear Subs Simultaneously Surface From Under Ice in Arctic for 1st Time Ever – Video,’ Sputnik, 26 March 2021.
61 ‘Russia nearly done building its biggest Arctic military base,’ RT, 22 October 2015.
62 Указ «Об утверждении Морской доктрины Российской Федерации», 21.
63 ‘Extended presence of US marines makes Norway “unpredictable” – Russia,’ RT, 24 June 2017.
64 ‘Beijing slams “dangerous” NATO claims,’ RT, 31 August 2022.
65 Holz et. al. “Exploring the Relationship between China’s Investment in the Arctic and Its National Strategy, Center for Naval Analyses,” January 2022.