The Great Patriotic War in Putin's Russia

Abstract

This thesis investigates how Vladimir Putin's political discourse transforms Ukraine from a brother nation into an enemy, and what role the Great Patriotic War myth plays in that transformation. The Great Patriotic War myth made this possible because of its specific character. It is a myth not of origin but a myth of survival and continuity. As a survival myth it is politically inexhaustible and the existential threat can always be renewed, the enemy reidentified, and a preemptive logic reactivated. Therefore this thesis analyses fifteen primary sources from 2014 to 2026. The analysis reveals that Ukraine's transformation was built in sequence, and that by 2026 the myth and the war have become mutually dependent where the invasion continues in part to make sense of the narrative that allowed the beginning of it.