Abstract| The 2022 invasion of Ukraine by Russia polarised Russian-speaking migrant communities in Germany. It led not only to the emergence of solidarity networks with the aim of assisting Ukrainian refugees and condemning Russia's military aggression, but also to a concerning surge in what can be termed ‘pro-war mobilisation‘ that manifested in both offline and online activities.
This paper sheds light on questions regarding the role of social networking platforms in facilitating pro-war mobilisation in Germany and the diversity of related discursive practices. It focuses on various channels on Telegram, the platform that plays an integral part in the Russian hybrid media system. This messaging app appeals not only to Russian-speakers but also to right-wing ‘counter publics‘ in the West, partly due to its claims to be censorship-free and secure. Pro-war Telegram channels attracted a large number of followers. In response to the anticipated rise of Russophobia in Western countries, many Russian speakers in Germany leveraged Telegram to establish channels aligning with Russia's hegemonic discourses, normalise divisive, and, at times, discriminatory rhetoric, and organise street rallies. Simultaneously, the rhetoric within these groups exhibited a wide spectrum of views, spanning from overtly pro-Russian positions to rather leftist anti-NATO stances. By applying the Discourse Network Analysis approach, we aim to unveil how Russian pro-war discourses are perpetuated and evolved through user-generated content by Germany-based actors, with the focus on how their positionalities emerge. This approach allows not only to map out the varieties of the pro-war discursive practices, but also to scrutinize how, when and why actors with different positionalities form a collective action frame. This research offers critical insights into the dynamics of these networks and their influence on the socio-political landscape of Russian-speaking communities in Germany.
BIO| Tatiana Golova, Dr.phil., is a sociologist. Before joining ZOiS as a researcher, Golova worked at the Institute of Sociology at the University of Magdeburg and at the Institute for East European Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin. Her regional focus is on Russia, Germany, and the transnational spaces in-between. Her research interests include civic and political activism, migration, radicalism, and communication via social media. In her work, she combines interpretative qualitative research with social network analysis and natural language processing methods. She is a co-founder, together with Tsypylma Darieva, of the research network “Emerging Russian Diasporas and Anti-War Movements’.
Liliia Sablina is currently completing her doctoral degree in Political Science at the Central European University in Vienna. Her research focuses on the right-wing mobilization of Russian-speaking groups in Germany. She is an author of multiple academic publications on the topic. She is also a former research fellow at the Zentrum für Osteuropa und Internationale Studien (ZOiS) in Germany, and the Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX) in Norway.