Putinism and the End of the Taboo on Land Grabs in Russian Politics

Putinist ideology is not merely a project of a narrow political elite, but rather a set of ideas that hold domestic appeal. The ideologized vision of Russia fighting for its rightful place in the international arena has resonated with mass social grievances created by the fall of the USSR. This event, described as a “critical situation,” undermined the foundations of Russia’s identity and its ontological security. One such pillar is a sense of finitude, which can be problematized by anxiety about the disintegration of a state. Paradoxically, the annexation of Crimea brought back the question of Russia’s territorial range (and its finitude), which has grown in significance due to the full‐scale invasion and further annexation of Ukrainian land. In this paper, I draw attention to the overlooked territorial aspect of Putinism expressed in the official discourse on Russian historical territories which gained visibility after 2022. The paper demonstrates how Russia’s rhetoric of commitment to territorial integrity has been undermined by its own revisionist narrative of “the historical land of ancestors.”

Aesthetics · Ideology · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Taboo · Arctic and Russian Policy Studies · Law · Philosophy · Regional Socio-Economic Development Trends · Russia and Soviet political economy