Framing Russia in the National Security Strategy of the United States of America

Abstract: Historically, the USA and Russian Federation have been two world powers that used to compete for a dominant power position in the bipolar world and spread influence on less developed countries. Relationships between the USA and Russia have mostly been complex and tense,with several escalation periods during the Cold War. Relationships between the USA and Russia in the 21st century can also be characterized by complexity and ambiguousness. The issues emerged in the process of power struggle created more tension between countries. This study aims to research framing Russia in the National Security Strategy of the United States of America issued from 2002 to 2022. The thesis also includes a history of USA-Russia relationships, and a historical review of the National Security Strategy issued since 1986. The theory that is chosen for the research is social constructivism. Within a single case-study design,I use the framing analysis method to apply to data gathered from the empirical materials –original texts of the National Security Strategy of the United States of America that are total seven within the mentioned period. Along with other conclusions, I found a tendency of negative framing after 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea and the persuasive presence of such positive frames as partnership and development, and negative frames – threat, regress, economic impact and competitive nature of relationships between countries. The degree of attention of the USA towards Russia switched periodically from being reasonably even in four issues of the National Security Strategy to bringing Russia in focus. The USA brought Russia to the most attention in 2022 and was least concentrated on Russia in the 2021 report.