Historical Argumentation in the Russian Information Warfare in Ukraine between 2014-2016

This bachelor thesis examines Russia's presentation of historical arguments in the information war in Ukraine between 2014-2016 and focuses on the methods and degree of Russia's manipulation of historical arguments. The work reviews the content of a pro-Russian website Russkaya Vesna, which targets Ukrainians. The thesis centres around two historical eras - World War II and the Soviet Union era. When describing events related to WW2, the website adopts a condemning narrative, labelling the UIA, OUN and Stepan Bandera as "fascist", which is examined in the first chapter of the thesis. In its evaluation of the Soviet era, the "soviet nostalgia" phenomenon is put under examination and the ways in which Russia encouraged this nostalgia are being focused on. Based on this research, the thesis proves that between the years 2014-2016, the informational sphere represented a substantial part of the Russian-Ukrainian war, and that the Russian government actively used misleading historical arguments to bolster pro-Russian attitudes in the people of Ukraine