The image of an enemy is a key aspect of totalitarian consciousness, inspired by the Soviet ideology. It entails other elements like a relativistic morality that justifies any crimes of the insiders against the outsiders and hatred towards the latter, restrictions of personal rights and freedoms, justifies economic mobilization, etc. It received a fresh impetus in 2014 after the Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity, which Russian declared was a US-inspired coup. To a significant extent the worldview of this demographic and their attitude towards media were formed through the ideology of the USSR.
This research is studying the methods, instruments and messages utilized and conveyed by Russian mass media in order to produce Threat Narratives about the West for Russian domestic audience. We believe that Russian domestic audience is of greatest importance to Kremlin, thus it is crucial to understand how Moscow works to seize and hold the attention of its subjects.
