Putin’s extremist regime and its securitisation of the invasion of Ukraine through the label of terrorism

Abstract

In this article, Putin’s regime as an aggressor in the current war with Ukraine is examined against Cassam’s (2022) extremism framework, encompassing ideological extremism, methods extremism, and, notably, extremist mindset, which is independent of any specific ideology and motivates extremist behaviour. This article offers insights into how Putin’s regime’s extremism underpins the construction of Russia’s offensive actions against Ukraine as counterterrorism measures. An analysis of Russian MFA’s statements is conducted on the empirical level, employing assumptions (Fairclough, 2003) to detect both explicit and implicit processes of meaning-making and to demonstrate how Putin’s regime’s extremist features underlie its securitisation of the invasion of Ukraine through terrorism