Central Asia in Russian Government-Affiliated Media Discourse

Abstract

This article contributes to the debate about Russia's past and present-day imperialism by studying the portrayal of Central Asia in expert discourse mediated by the Russian state-affiliated tabloid newspaper Argumenty i fakty from a critical geopolitical perspective. It argues that there are two separate discourses on Central Asia: a foreign policy discourse on Central Asian states and a domestic policy discourse on the Central Asian region. While the former narrates Central Asian states as Russia's partners, the latter constructs Central Asia as an inherently problematic region for Russia. Moreover, the term "Middle Asia" (Sredniaia Aziia) functions as a marker of the xenophobic domestic policy discourse, which is why those sensitive to the current decolonization imperative are triggered by its application.