Alexandra Brankova: Russian Digital Nationalism: Digital Practices and Discursive Constructions of the Russian Nation in a Nationalist Media Ecology

Abstract

This thesis explores the digital enactment through practices and discursive construction of Russian nationalism in a hybrid media system, before and after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The discourses and practices are situated through a close mapping of the Russian nationalist media ecology, and intertextuality with other actors is examined (such as state institutions, state-aligned media groups, the Russian Orthodox Church portals, military bloggers, and influencers). Theoretically, the study is grounded in the discursive turn of nationalism theories, critical discourse studies, digital practices, and media ecology. A new definition of media ecology is provided and applied to the data. After the initial mapping, four key actors were selected for an in-depth analysis of digital practices and discourses: Konstantin Malofeev’s Tsargrad Society and Television; Ekaterina Mizulina and the League for Safe Internet; Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Federal News Agency (RIA-FAN, the Patriot Media Group); and the state-owned RIA Novosti (Russia Today Group). 

A mixed-methods and longitudinal approach (June 2018–June 2023) was adopted, combining digital methods (such as data scraping and netnography) with discourse-historical analysis, incorporated into the framework of a digital discourse-ethnographic approach. The primary data for this study consists of websites and media publications (news, opinion pieces, manifestos, videos), social media posts (from VKontakte and Telegram), and other audio-visual formats. 

The findings reveal that the Russian nationalist media ecology penetrates mainstream media spaces, youth initiatives, and memory politics. Discourses about the nation are not only found in texts of various formats and genres. They are also enacted through digital practices of representation and aesthetics, gamified through virtual or augmented reality applications, and manifested in social media engagement campaigns, reels, or participatory denunciation. The discourses about the Russian nation and its enemies construct a supranational identity and narratives about Russia’s return to great power politics, striving towards the establishment of multipolarity. Russian digital media and technological infrastructures are subjects of securitisation and ongoing enclosure framed as a push for Internet sovereignty from Western platforms. Neo-authoritarian hybrid media systems involve media intermediaries in nation-building, political influencing, discourse dissemination, and user engagement in times of war, going beyond standard mechanisms of restrictions and surveillance.