Intersections between Russian military engagement in Frozen Conflict and Political Discourse of President Vladimir Putin.

Abstract

The relations between Russia and the so-called “frozen conflicts” is a long and complicated one. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, due to the resulting partition of the Republics, Eastern Europe was characterized by the birth and creation of new independent states, among which Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia.

This Master Thesis has the aim to analyze the history of the separatist regions of the above-mentioned States, their relations with Russia (including the response at the international level to their establishment), as well as a comparative analysis between them. Moreover, by applying the software “Wordsmith”, the analysis will be also focused on a discourse analysis, with the goal of understanding the correlation between russian military interventions in separatists regions and political speeches to the public and/or meetings between President Putin and the Presidents of Crimea, Donbass, Transnistria, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The research will be structured as follows: at first a political context to the situations developing since 1990’s in Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia will be given. Secondly, the discourse analysis will be presented with a distinction between each case of investigation. Lastly, a comparative analysis will be displayed, making the attempt to highlight similarities and contradictions between their relations with Russia, as well as the type of interventions that the ladder deployed.

The desirable result is to give to the complicated question of “frozen conflicts” a new perspective of study, focusing more on the political speeches and meetings and their examination, contextualizing them in the domain of military interventions and international relations.