From Screens to Battlefields: Tracing the Construction of Enemies on Russian Television

The presentation will focus on how Russian state-controlled television

has shaped hostile communication, leading to the Russian public’s acceptance of the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. By discussing media coverage of key events such as the Ukrainian pro-EU protests, Russian occupation of Crimea, and the early months of the war in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, it will explain how Russian TV cultivated fear and hatred towards Ukraine and the West. The

comparison of two major broadcasters—RT, aimed at international audiences, and Channel One, focused on domestic viewers—will show how the latter, operating within Russian state-controlled information environment employed even more extreme rhetoric than the better-known and widely criticized RT. The presentation will also connect these media strategies to Russia's wars of previous decades,

namely those against Chechnya and Georgia, providing deeper insight into Russia’s long-term communication approaches.

Bio: Alona Shestopalova studied Political Science and Political Communication at Lviv and Hamburg. Since 2022, she has been Senior Researcher at the Centre for Information Resilience in London. Previously, Shestopalova held a fellow and internships at the International Centre for Defence and Security in Tallinn,

Institute of World Policy in Kyiv and Donetsk Institute of Information. Her papers have been published by, among other outlets, Central European Journal of International and Security Studies and The International Journal of Press/Politics.