Digital Political Communication and Framing of Russia: A Comparative Analysis of Czech and Slovak Political Actors

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the role of social media as an increasingly central arena for elite-driven political communication has been further intensified, sharpening contestation over democratic and geopolitical orientations in Central and Eastern Europe. This paper examines how political elites in Czechia and Slovakia mobilize historically framed narratives about Russia, the Soviet past, and Europe in their social media communication, and how these narratives contribute to political polarization and to the legitimation or contestation of Russia’s actions and interests between the outbreak of the war and the 2024 European Parliament elections. The analysis therefore focuses on the period leading up to the 2024 European Parliament elections, which constitute a comparable moment of political contestation in both countries and allow for systematic comparison of discourses on Russia prior to subsequent shifts in political agendas. The study draws on the strategic narratives framework (Miskimmon, O’Loughlin and Roselle, 2013) to conceptualize narratives as communicative instruments through which political actors construct meanings of international politics, identity, and legitimacy. Rather than treating Russian influence as a direct or externally imposed force, the paper approaches it as mediated through domestic political communication, in which political elites selectively mobilize historical analogies and historically embedded framings of Russia. Empirically, the paper employs a qualitative comparative case study design and discourse analysis of a purposively selected corpus of social media communication by wider party elites, including party leaders, deputies, and prominent MPs and MEPs, across established, populist, and radical parties. By comparing two closely related yet politically divergent cases—Czechia and Slovakia—the paper demonstrates how digital platforms mediate the polarizing effects of strategic historical narratives and shape their resonance in contexts characterized by differing levels of pro-Russian political mobilization. While grounded in these two empirical cases, the analysis speaks to broader dynamics of elite-driven political communication and memory politics in Central and Eastern Europe.