Battle for Perceptions: Projecting Russia in the West

Abstract

The article provides an analysis of Russia's image that the Kremlin has been projecting in Western countries in the years of Vladimir Putin's presidency. The negative character of Russia's image in the West was recognised as one of the major security threats for the country, and an energetic public relations campaign was launched to improve it. The article explores the core elements of this ‘constructed’ image, and examines how they are related to the self-images of Russia held by Russian political elites. Finally, it considers the implications of the ambition to create this ‘desired’ image for Russian foreign policy.

Notes

¹‘Ishchem vykhod (interview with Yu. Slashcheva, D. Yakobashvili and I. Yurgens)’, Radio Ekho Moskvy, 17 November 2005, available at: http://echo.msk.ru/programs/exit/39998/index.phtml, accessed 5 May 2006.

²‘Sekretny doklad Vladislava Surkova: stenogramma vystupleniya na gensovete “Delovoi Rossii”’, Radio Svoboda, 17 May 2005, available at: http://www.svoboda.org/programs/tp/2005/tp.071105.asp/, accessed 14 July 2006.

³‘Nadezhdy i trevogi: Rossiya’, Public Opinion Foundation (FOM), 14 June 2000, available at: http://bd.fom.ru/report/cat/societas/image/Great_Power/d000837/, accessed 25 October 2006.

⁴‘Obraz Rossii: sil'noe ili slaboe gosudarstvo?’, Public Opinion Foundation (FOM), 8 June 2006, available at: http://bd.fom.ru/report/cat/societas/image/tb062212/, accessed 25 October 2006.

⁵‘Sammit G8 znamenuyet vozvrashchenie Rossii v ryad velikikh derzhav—eksperty’, RIAN, 19 July 2006, available at: http://www.rian.ru/world/foreign_russia/20060719/51566984.html/, accessed 27 October 2006.

⁶‘Putin: Interview with NBC Television Channel, USA’, 12 July 2006, available at: http://www.kremlin.ru/eng/speeches/2006/07/12/1443_type82916_108525.shtml/, accessed 20 July 2006.

⁷See Balzer (2005a, 2005b). The authorship of Putin's thesis, titled The Strategic Planning of Regional Resources Under the Formation of Market Relations, was questioned when in 2006 researchers from the Brookings Institution, USA discovered that at least a part of it had been based on a study written by American authors in the 1970s (Allen-Mills 2006). It could be argued, however, that even if it was not written by Putin but was only published under his name, it would still be interesting material for research. One could suggest that Putin, being already a high-ranking official at that time, would not have agreed to be associated with the texts if they had been contrary to his personal position.

⁸‘Stenograficheskii otchet o vstreche s uchastnikami tret'yego zasedaniya mezhdunarodnogo diskusionnogo kluba Valdai’, 9 September 2006, available at: http://www.kremlin.ru/appears/2006/09/09/1930_type63376type63381_111114.shtml/, accessed 20 October 2006.

⁹‘Putin: Interview with German Television Channels ARD and ZDF’, 5 May 2005, available at: http://www.July2006.kremlin.ru/eng/speeches/2005/05/05/2355_type82916_87597.shtml, accessed 17 July 2006.

¹⁰‘Stenograficheskii otchet o vstreche s uchastnikami tret'yego zasedaniya mezhdunarodnogo diskusionnogo kluba Valdai’, 9 September 2006, available at: http://www.kremlin.ru/appears/2006/09/09/1930_type63376type63381_111114.shtml/, accessed 20 October 2006.

¹¹‘Stenograficheskii otchet o vstreche s uchastnikami tret'yego zasedaniya mezhdunarodnogo diskusionnogo kluba Valdai’, 9 September 2006, available at: http://www.kremlin.ru/appears/2006/09/09/1930_type63376type63381_111114.shtml/, accessed 20 October 2006.

¹²‘Putin: Interview with German Television Channels ARD and ZDF’, 5 May 2005, available at: http://www.July2006.kremlin.ru/eng/speeches/2005/05/05/2355_type82916_87597.shtml/, accessed 17 July 2006.

¹³‘Transcript of the Interactive Webcast with the President of Russia’, 6 July 2006, available at: www.kremlin.ru/eng/speeches/2006/07/06/2312_type82917_108352.shtml/, accessed 20 July 2006.

¹⁴‘Some Facts of Russian Policy Towards Georgia’, official webpage of the Parliament of Georgia, available at: http://www.parliament.ge/index.php?lang_id=ENG&sec_id=63&info_id=13324/, accessed 20 December 2006.

¹⁵‘Press Conference Following Russian–German Intergovernmental Consultations’, 27 April 2006, available at: http://www.kremlin.ru/eng/speeches/2006/04/27/2350_type82914type82915_105149. shtml/, accessed 12 May 2006.

¹⁶‘Stenograficheskii otchet o vstreche s uchastnikami tret'yego zasedaniya mezhdunarodnogo diskusionnogo kluba Valdai’, 9 September 2006, available at: http://www.kremlin.ru/appears/2006/09/09/1930_type63376type63381_111114.shtml/, accessed 20 October 2006.