Collective Digital Identity of Russian Nationalist Organisations in the Invasion of Ukraine

Abstract: This project investigates Russian nationalist organisations during the invasion of Ukraine, to study their collective identity and practises. It features an ethnography of 26 organisations, their websites and social media. Their content is coded via a semiotic framework, categorising their symbols, images, content posted and other identity tropes. It is then analysed by applying political, sociological and communication theories. The study’s background is the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, with its dynamics of war and cultural struggle. The results are that Russian collective identities simplified their communication already by the end of March 2022, abandoning many of the tropes they initially supported, as well as their symbols, limiting themselves to attribute the label of Nazism to Ukraine and its government, avoiding the promotion of frontline volunteer activities and considering Russia’s struggle as global. Finally, most continued to evaluate the invasion of Ukraine as proceeding positively, and at the time half the organisations referred to it as special military operation.