The Russian Geopolitical Imaginaries and the war on Ukraine
Abstract
This article analyzes how Russian elites construct geopolitical imaginaries of Ukraine that shape the perception of threat from the annexation of Crimea in 2014 to the ongoing war. Moving beyond mega-narratives such as NATO expansion, the study applies critical geopolitics to examine how spatial, historical, and civilizational narratives are deployed in political discourse to define territory, legitimacy, and adversaries. Using geopolitical discourse analysis of presidential speeches, doctrinal texts, and state media narratives, the article illustrates that Ukraine is imagined as a civilizational core, strategic buffer, and historical territory. These imaginaries affect policy choices, justify invasion, and normalize confrontation with the West. The findings demonstrate that Russia’s war in Ukraine is as much about the construction of space and identity in geopolitical terms as it is about material power, offering a nuanced insight on the impact of elite narratives and their policies
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