Playing it Tough, Blaming Others: Political Myth in Vladimir Putin’s Presidential Rhetoric

This paper analyses and traces the developments of Vladimir Putin’s political rhetoric from 2000 and up to the present time. The primary source material for the analysis is the annual addresses by the Russian President to the Federation Council and the televised Direct Line with Vladimir Putin that are broadcast live once a year. The theoretical point of departure is that the analysis of political myth adds important aspects to the understanding of contemporary political developments in Russia, not least Putin’s consistently high popularity ratings. Regardless of whether successful political myths happen to be historically true or false, they provide a sense of origin, identity and purpose to their believers. The paper argues that Vladimir Putin’s deft employment of political myth in his political communication offers one key to the understanding of his widespread popular support at home. By way of example, Putin has over the years been able to project himself as the most credible guarantor of Russia’s domestically taken-for-granted great power role. He has also successfully come across as the main and perhaps only guarantor of internal political and social order and stability in Russia. This stands in contrast with the domestic turmoil of the 1990s, still vivid in popular memory. Furthermore, the president has consistently blamed present political, economic and social ills on external or internal Others to forge Russian togetherness. In chronological order, these tactics have been employed against Chechnya, domestic oligarchs, Estonia, Georgia, and, most recently, Ukraine and international terrorism. Throughout Putin’s presidential periods, 2000-2008 and from 2012 onwards, the United States has also been there as a prominent target. As the international climate has hardened in connection with crises over Ukraine and Syria, the criticism against the US for its role, influence and faltering strategies has been moving ever closer to center stage.