RUSSIA’S MFA SOCIAL MEDIA PRACTICES AND ANALYSES
3.3. Projection of Foreign Publics
Russia views itself as a rising power and portrays the Western reaction to its assertive actions abroad as a strategy to contain Russia’s rise. There are some different messages, in addition to the positive role played by Russia, to project to foreign publics. Tweets dealing with foreign governments diplomacy accounted for 15% of all tweets analyzed while Facebook posts dealing with such issues accounted for 25% of all posts analyzed. One of them was that the United States is the ‘puppet master’, controlling other countries and blocks (such as the EU) in order to do its bidding. The message of “evil” America was posted on 4th of October. It is stated that the USA has attempted to impose sanctions on Russia more than fifty times. Having failed to achieve any result in the previous 50 sanctions rounds, Washington continues to frighten rejections of American visas, threatens Russian business with freezing property and financial assets. “We are witnessing the re-birth of America: in the United States, more and more, they renounce what they themselves have been extolling as the fundamental "American values." Even the seizure of diplomatic objects belonging to Russia not only became a gross violation of international norms, but also showed that once sacred property for Americans became an empty phrase. The post is written with sarcasm calling all these actions degradation of American diplomacy. Another post that posted one month later is up to current tendency of projecting America and its diplomacy with criticism. Ministry of Foreign Affairs mentioned that no pressure measures will curtail Russia from the chosen course. They only demonstrate the inability of the United States to achieve its goals and consolidate Russian society.
They have no intention to abandon the current and any new anti-Russian attack without a hard response. However, they would like to advise Washington to get rid of illusions that Russia can be spoken with the language of sanctions.
Russian projection of the United States as an “evil master” was the most frequent among all foreign governments mentions. It includes comments on various political steps made by American diplomacy. For example, the post from 7th of September includes statement by speaker of Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mariia Zakharova on raiders by FBI to diplomatic consulates on the territory of America. She said that representatives of US law enforcement agencies conduct unknown works on the territory of the Consulate General of Russia in San Francisco, spoil expensive parquet, and run without permission and “most importantly, who are these people who behave like raiders, nobody knows”.
The constructive role of Russia versus the destructive effect of the West is emphasized in many posts through these three months. For example, some of them urges the West not to wait for Russia to resolve the Ukraine crisis single-handed. The news also emphasized the positive role of Russia and the negative role of the West in Ukraine. This message is likely to appeal to publics that would like to see US and Western global hegemony challenged. Simultaneously, there is a projection of unstable nature of the Kyiv regime, by emphasizing the radical statements of
individuals. One example used was a former ‘volunteer battalion’ leader who became a Member of Parliament in Ukraine, who threatened to carry out acts of terrorism in Russia. The message was likely intended to create the effect of alarming civic- and liberal-minded publics, and to affect the perceptions of legitimacy and therefore support for the Kyiv authorities. (taking public diplomacy online). The other post that was posted on 5th of November includes citations of official representative of Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mariia Zakharova. During her briefing with foreign media she stated that Kiev “kills” Minsk agreements. The Parliament of Ukraine adopted the presidential bill on the reintegration of Donbass, in which the Russian Federation is called an
"aggressor." According to the law, the territories of Donbass that are not controlled by Kiev are recognized as "occupied". The document excluded the item on the priority significance of the implementation of the Minsk agreements for the settlement of the conflict. She noted the paradox of the situation in which the Russian side is constantly being reproached for not fulfilling the Minsk agreements, and "at the same time, Kiev is killing Minsk agreements, doing everything so that there will be no stone left on them.”
Other satiric mentions of Kiev policies towards Russia include the post in which speaker of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia Maria Zakharova compared the expulsion of a correspondent of NTV television channel Vyacheslav Nemyshev from Ukraine with witch-hunting. She said that
citizen, whom he did not like. She stressed that from the Ukrainian side it is undiplomatic. Another mention of Ukrainian policy includes remarks by Russsian representative about the president of Ukraine Petr Poroshenko’s remarks to arm OSCE with heavy weapons. Poroshenko is satirically addressed as a “president of peace” and his idea as “know-how”.
CHAPTER IV.
CONCLUSION
The importance of a positive image of the state for the effective upholding of its interests, progressive development and building mutually beneficial partnership relations in the international arena at the moment can hardly cause anyone to doubt. At the same time, the importance of the image as an effective and even necessary instrument for the realization of state interests in today's increasingly complex world continues to grow steadily.