Russian Self-Legitimisation ahead of the Annexation of Crimea

The final speaker in this session at IAMCR 2023 is Beate Josephi, whose focus is on the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Her interest is in the initial annexation of Crimea in March 2014, and the focus here is on how Russia argued its case at that point – in this case, through the coverage in the Russian weekly newspaper Argumenti i Fakti.

A background to this event was the postponement of Ukraine’s association agreement with the EU by then-Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich in favour of a greater alignment with Russia, and the Euromaidan protests that ensued in the aftermath. Yanukovich eventually fled to Russia, where he still lives, and Russia annexed Crimea; international scholarship was divided over whether this was to be seen as a one-off event or the start of a larger development (recent events have provide a clear answer to that question).

Argumenti i Fakti was once a quasi-independent newspaper, but strongly argued the pro-Russian position during the Euromaidan protests and in the lead-up to the annexation of Crimea. Arguments included the denial of Ukrainian independent statehood; the division of Ukraine between Russian and Ukrainian speakers; the ungratefulness of Ukrainians given Russian economic support; the economic, political, and cultural threats stemming from greater integration with the EU; and others. The paper also explicitly foreshadowed and called for the annexation of Crimea, and celebrated its eventual annexation as the will of its people. The now prominent theme of describing the Ukrainian state as run by ‘Nazis’ was also already present at this stage.

But the situation during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was different, of course; Ukraine was by now a far stronger country, with a strong preference amongst its population for closer ties with the EU. Crimea, conversely, has suffered considerably under Russian rule – not least its non-Russian population groups.