Research project
The language and argumentation of Russian propaganda
How does Russia use propaganda and what characterises Russian propaganda in terms of language and argumentation?
- Duration
- 2025 - 2029
- Contact
- Egbert Fortuin
- Funding
- NWO SGW Open Competitie L
Ever since the war that Russia started against Ukraine, people in the West have come to realise the threat that Russia poses for the world. It has also become increasingly clear how Russian propaganda plays a crucial role in this war, both within Russia and beyond. This project aims to study Russian propaganda with a multidisciplinary approach, focusing on linguistics and argumentation theory. The project seeks to answer the question which narratives Russia employs and how argumentation and language play a key role in those narratives.
- Fortuin, Egbert. “Ukraine commits genocide on Russians”: the term “genocide” in Russian propaganda. Russ Linguist 46, 313–347 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/
- Fortuin, Egbert, Jansen, Henrike, De Wolf, Levina, and Pawlowski, Wiktor. (to appear in 2026). Russia’s Arguments to Justify the War in Ukraine and Their Abuse of Human Rights Appeals. In: Miklasová, Júlia, Paula Rhein-Fischer, and Cathérine Van de Graaf (Eds), Misappropriation of Human Rights: Elements, Fora, Actors and Critiques. International Studies in Human Rights, vol. 152. Brill.
- In preparation: Paper on the argumentation given by Russia for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and ‘reasonableness’.