REPRESENTATION OF RUSSIAN FEDERATION'S WAR AGAINST UKRAINE IN ARABIC MEDIA (ON MATERIALS OF ONLINE NEWS AND INSTAGRAM COMMENTS)

Abstract

Background. In the conditions of information war, the position of Arab countries regarding the Russian aggression against Ukraine is expressed in the mass media through lexico-semantic and stylistic markers that can be influenced by the Russian propaganda. The relevance of this investigation is caused by the need to identify the lexis with which the Arab media describe the situation in Ukraine, and to determine the news topics and reactions to them in the social networks. The purpose of this study is to determine the peculiarities of the lexico-semantic and stylistic means of forming the Arab media discourse in which the war between Russia and Ukraine is reflected.

Methods. A complex methodology was applied, covering elements of lexico-semantic and stylistic analysis (the study of relevant lexis in the news texts); comparative analysis (depicting the  language characteristics of the different resources' content); linguopragmatic analysis (defining the communicative goal and features of vocabulary functioning in mass media messages and comments on them); discourse analysis (determining the peculiarities of the chosen topics' reflection in the media and the impact on the online-communication in the context of information war).

Results. The thematic features of the Russia-Ukraine war news representation are outlined based on the online resources of various Arab countries (Egypt, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia). The conducted lexical-semantic analysis highlighted the specifics of the use of socio-political and military lexis. Russian propaganda markers for denoting the war in Ukraine and the Ukrainian authorities were determined. The stylistic means of creating emotional expressiveness in the news and Instagram comments were identified.

Conclusions. The Arab mass media reports covered the topics of events at the front, discussions on negotiations between the Russian Federation and Ukraine, Western aid, participation of the Arab countries, and so forth. The information is frequently presented subjectively and based on the Russian sources. The most prominent place is occupied by the socio-political and military vocabulary, which, due to various connotations, can influence the tonality of messages. The Russian propaganda markers, such as the expressions "military operation" and "Kyiv regime", are used even in texts with the neutral tonality, which can lead to a negative perception of Ukraine. Metaphors, epithets, hyperboles, etc. are used to achieve a particular tonality in the news content. Compared to the news, the reactions of Instagram users, whether positive or negative, which are expressed openly, can contain sarcasm, and the comments themselves are designed to exert a manipulative influence on other communicants.