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United in War, Divided in Celebration – Examining State and Nationalist Narratives in Russian National Holiday Celebrations After the Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine

Tsikarishvili, Giorgi LU (2026) ÖCKR07 20261
Joint Faculties of Humanities and Theology
Abstract
This thesis examines state and nationalist narratives regarding four Russian national holidays: Defender of the Fatherland Day, Victory Day, Russia Day, and National Unity Day. The study was motivated by the observation that existing scholarship on Russian commemorative politics focuses almost exclusively on Victory Day, practically ignoring other national holidays, the examination of which reveals deep contestation between the state and nationalist movements. The full-scale invasion of Ukraine intensified memory politics in Russia, making the period between February 2022 and February 2026 a particularly productive window for this kind of analysis. The data consists of Telegram posts published by twenty nationalist actors alongside Putin’s... (More)
This thesis examines state and nationalist narratives regarding four Russian national holidays: Defender of the Fatherland Day, Victory Day, Russia Day, and National Unity Day. The study was motivated by the observation that existing scholarship on Russian commemorative politics focuses almost exclusively on Victory Day, practically ignoring other national holidays, the examination of which reveals deep contestation between the state and nationalist movements. The full-scale invasion of Ukraine intensified memory politics in Russia, making the period between February 2022 and February 2026 a particularly productive window for this kind of analysis. The data consists of Telegram posts published by twenty nationalist actors alongside Putin’s official celebratory speeches and content disseminated by the Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs.

This study demonstrates that national holidays reveal the values and key narratives of both state and nationalist actors, and that they are neither stable vehicles for collective memory nor simple instruments of state propaganda, but rather “unstable signifiers” whose academic value lies precisely in their instability, which gives scholars an opportunity to uncover the fractures within societies’ commemorative landscapes. Applied to the Russian case, this approach reveals how questions of identity, historical continuity, and the Soviet legacy remain deeply unresolved within the nationalist camp. (Less)
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author
Tsikarishvili, Giorgi LU
supervisor
organization
course
ÖCKR07 20261
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
national holidays, narrative template, Defender of the Fatherland Day, Victory Day, Russia Day, National Unity Day, Russian nationalism, collective memory, historical continuity, Vladimir Putin
language
English
id
9238467
date added to LUP
2026-07-01 15:45:04
date last changed
2026-07-01 15:45:04
@misc{9238467,
  abstract     = {{This thesis examines state and nationalist narratives regarding four Russian national holidays: Defender of the Fatherland Day, Victory Day, Russia Day, and National Unity Day. The study was motivated by the observation that existing scholarship on Russian commemorative politics focuses almost exclusively on Victory Day, practically ignoring other national holidays, the examination of which reveals deep contestation between the state and nationalist movements. The full-scale invasion of Ukraine intensified memory politics in Russia, making the period between February 2022 and February 2026 a particularly productive window for this kind of analysis. The data consists of Telegram posts published by twenty nationalist actors alongside Putin’s official celebratory speeches and content disseminated by the Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs.

This study demonstrates that national holidays reveal the values and key narratives of both state and nationalist actors, and that they are neither stable vehicles for collective memory nor simple instruments of state propaganda, but rather “unstable signifiers” whose academic value lies precisely in their instability, which gives scholars an opportunity to uncover the fractures within societies’ commemorative landscapes. Applied to the Russian case, this approach reveals how questions of identity, historical continuity, and the Soviet legacy remain deeply unresolved within the nationalist camp.}},
  author       = {{Tsikarishvili, Giorgi}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{United in War, Divided in Celebration – Examining State and Nationalist Narratives in Russian National Holiday Celebrations After the Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}