The eastern threat

The aim of this thesis was to examine how the two Swedish newspapers Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter portrayed the actions of Russia, Vladimir Putin, Nato and their allies and Ukraine in the conflict surrounding the sovereignty of Crimea that started in 2014.Our study was based on 18 news articles from the start of the conflict up to august of 2015.The results showed that Russia is portrayed as the villian of the conflict. Aftonbladet portrayed the nation as a threat to Sweden and the rest of the western countries. Both papers tended to treat Russian sources with distrust, often choosing to interview Swedish experts on Russia rather than citing Russian sources. Vladimir Putin was portrayed as an evil dictator who set his own interests first and foremost. Both papers drew parallels between Putins way of ruling with the style of leadership in Soviet Russia.In both Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter, Nato and their allies actions are portrayed as self defence towards Russia. Their actions are justified and always put in a perspective towards the actions of the Russians.The nation of Ukraine are initially portrayed as victims of Russian aggression. A few months into the conflict the newspapers started to become more critical of the Ukrainian actions, but always put it into perspective towards russian actions.Our study shows that swedish media holds a critical view towards Russia and their actions