Cold Truths: Russian Media Narratives about Ukraine for the Russian Arctic

Soviet time building. Photo: Maxim Bogdanov

When it comes to constructing strategic narratives, Russia might be among the most successful actors in the world. Moscow’s messaging regarding the ongoing war in Ukraine has been aggressive not only outwards, but also inwards. The Kremlin has been adamant in its messaging about Ukraine being the biggest evil for the continued legitimacy of the full-scale invasion to continue. Albeit authoritarian regimes like that of Vladimir Putin do not necessarily rely on public support, they do require sustenance of the ideological appeal of the war. This includes delivering a hand-crafted message to the peoples of the north. Because the people living in the Russian Arctic are quite isolated from the rest of the world, communication with them needs to be specifically constructed in a manner that makes them perceive the imminent danger Putin wants all people in Russia to feel.

Strategic messaging can be done in many forms, and nowadays most messages get delivered through the internet, specifically social media. For communities that are more secluded, social media is not always the best form of messaging to reach them. In short, this means that traditional media still plays a significant part in the construction of Russian Arctic narratives. This can be done through national news outlets, just like it can be carried out using regional media. While we cannot distinguish which narratives are meant for the peoples of the Russian Arctic, and which ones are meant for the general population if they are communicated through national agencies like ‘TASS’, if we shift our attention to regional outlets like ‘Vechernij Murmansk’ or ‘Sever Post’, we can observe which narratives are prominent when communicating specifically to the people living in the Russian Arctic. The reason for picking both news outlets is because they are from the Murmansk region, they are producing articles intended solely for the consumption of the people living in the region. There are not many news outlets that specifically focus on the Russian Arctic that operate an online platform. Most of the information produced for the peoples of Russia is generated through massive platforms like ‘TASS’, or ‘RT’, yet, the focus on the smaller, regional, entities offers this article a source of materials that are only intended for a very specific audience, as it is created in Russian – thus – for Russophones, and, in small regional outlets – thus – for the people living in the Russian Arctic.

To briefly describe the methods used to create this article, the term ‘Ukraine’ was searched for in the corresponding websites of both of these news outlets. It was done using a VPN to access these sites in the first place, and then search engines were used to identify concrete examples. Using a qualitative method – content analysis, relying heavily on keyword search approach, concrete articles were pinpointed. When the keywords were identified, the specific article was analyzed, thoroughly reading it, and confirming the general sentiment of the article. This method does not completely eliminate the possibility of subjectivity, however, content analysis provides a systematic framework for the qualitative and quantitative exploration of textual data, enabling researchers to identify recurrent patterns and thematic structures. This rigorous approach facilitates a nuanced understanding of underlying meanings and contextual significance within large datasets. Complementarily, keyword search functions as a targeted retrieval mechanism, enhancing the efficiency of data processing by isolating instances of specific terms or phrases. This focused retrieval streamlines the analytic process, allowing researchers to concentrate on relevant segments of text. The search was done in Russian, to ensure that the information is intended for the Russophone population of the Russian Arctic, not the international audience that might be following the media. Due to the scope of this research, a short timespan was selected – just the first 8 months of 2024. It might correspond to some specific events, thus, this research could be expanded in the future, to eliminate that possibility.

In both highlighted news outlets combined, the term ‘Ukraine’ appears in 31 articles throughout 2024. This suggests that if you are a local consuming material from the aforementioned outlets, you will encounter roughly 3.5 articles about Ukraine a month. This is a significant number of articles about a sovereign country more than 2200 kilometers away, especially considering these regional outlets produce just a couple of articles per day. In the majority of these articles, Ukraine is portrayed poorly, specifically made to look weak and inferior, accenting their need for Western support. Ukraine’s territorial integrity is not respected, on several occasions articles glorify the events of illegal territorial occupation, justifying them in the eyes of the reader. To add to this, articles about ‘Crimea’, ‘Lugansk’, and ‘Donbas’ have been published 97 times, signifying to the reader that these are legitimate parts of Russia. Thus, if we count these keywords, we can understand that these regional outlets actually produce 128 articles per month about Ukraine. It is important to signify that there might be other keywords that were not sought due to the scope of this article, for example, other regions of Ukraine, like regions, cities, and villages, likely indicating that there is significantly more material than accounted for if one just searches for ‘Ukraine’.

Another recurring phenomenon is the characterization of Russia as a savior, spotlighting the hate children saved from the region feel for Ukraine, sometimes even going as far as to not recognizing Ukraine as a legitimate state. This demonizes the Ukrainian state, making it seem like the war is inevitable and even justified. This is also the reason why the term ‘special operation’ appears in 69 articles, highlighting that the mere existence of the Ukrainian state is being questioned, as they do not mention that this special operation takes place in an internationally recognized sovereign state. Again, if we add these to the total sum, we get a total of 197 articles within the span of 8 months, or ~25 articles per month. These are not amounts that aim to overwhelm – these are amounts that are aimed to slowly impact the general populace’s understanding of the war, specifically regarding the existence of Ukraine as a legitimate state.

To further radicalize the locals, several articles portray the dangers that Ukraine is bringing to the Arctic – spying is a recurring narrative while poisoning the locals with Western propaganda is also not forgotten. To reinforce the fear of the state, these articles usually end by underscoring the harsh punishments enemies of the state face, almost always coining the perpetrators Nazis.

Despite that most articles focus on making Ukraine seem weak, and Russia strong, the authors also do not forget about the Arctic identity of the reader. None of the articles specifically mention USA or other allies of Ukraine like Poland, rather they focus on other Arctic states, highlighting how Norway, Sweden and Finland interact with Ukraine. These narratives specifically regarding these states seem to be built to establish that these Arctic states are helping Ukraine not because Russia is attacking it, but rather they are competing with Russia in the Arctic realm. There is not an abundance of these articles. However, the fact that they are writing about Arctic Nordic states, and not states that aid Ukraine outside of the Arctic seems to indicate that there is underlying reasoning behind this.

An additional observation is how some articles mention Ukraine directly (31), and a second set of articles that talk about Ukraine, without mentioning it directly. In these, the outlets are discussing selected regions in Ukraine (97), or, describing the ‘special military operation’ (69). While this could be a research topic of its own, it is worth highlighting that there is a large amount of information we can retain from this observation.

Evidently, the local media outlets are delegitimizing the existence of Ukraine, positioning it to be an illegitimate state. It aligns with Putin’s narrative that this is not a war, it is a special military operation. Thus, it indicates that by ‘not writing about Ukraine’, the local media outlets are portraying a ‘silent narrative’. By them not mentioning it, we can acknowledge the general sentiment regarding the state. It is crucial to highlight the fact that there are hundreds if not thousands of terms that could have been sought for when commencing this analysis. Thus, it is impossible to argue about the true extent of the narratives that are being pushed upon the peoples of the Russian Arctic.

To conclude, there is a clear difference in how regional media outlets communicate in the Russian Arctic, and how the national outlets communicate to the general population. While the general outlets highlight how Germany and the USA are helping Ukraine, the local ones from the Arctic region are circling out Arctic states like Norway, Sweden, and Finland. While the general message seems to align both for the general population and those living in the Russian Arctic, on many occasions, articles seem to be trying to bring the war closer to home for those living in the Russian Arctic, reinforcing a sense of urgency and danger for these individuals.

Viesturs Bērziņš is a lecturer at the University of Latvia, and a lead expert at the Latvian development cooperation agency.