Valdai International Discussion Club: towards new Vectors, landmarks and technologies of Russia's Image

Vedernikova Mariya Igorevna Postgraduate student, Saint Petersburg State University 125993, Russia, Saint Petersburg, Smolny str., 1/3 Entrance No. 7, p. 3. maria.vedernikowa@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

The Valdai International Discussion Club is one of the few platforms where they not only discuss current issues in politics, economics, and public life, but also form a development strategy for several years to come ^[1]. "Valdai"-2023 is no exception. Russian President Vladimir Putin's speech was a landmark event, as it clearly outlines the strategic directions of Russian domestic and foreign policy for the coming years, and possibly decades.

The key words were about multipolarity as a fair future world order ^[2], while the confrontation of various blocs in world politics is nothing more than a vicious legacy of the 20th century, which has no future.

Introduction

It is important to understand that many of the meanings and messages conveyed by the national leader are not only the basis of Russia's foreign policy, but also key "foundation bricks" on which Russia's international image is built ^[18].

The topic of the meeting was chosen to be relevant and relevant to global political realities: "Fair multipolarity.": how to ensure security and development for all." "The Valdai discussions are always a reflection of the most important processes of world politics of the 21st century in their entirety and complexity," President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin said in his speech ^[2]. And the 20 meetings of the Valdai International Discussion Club fully confirm this statement.

The main part

The audiences with which Russia plans to build mutually beneficial long-term relations are not so much limited by territorial borders as they are based on civilizational unity. So, this means that cooperation with India consists not only in building relations with a particular country, but also with the entire Indian civilization ^[4-6].

In this regard, it seems relevant to analyze the main messages and meanings that Russia will actively broadcast to external audiences in the near future ^[20].

The vector of the country's image: definition of the concept

Despite the fact that the expression "image vector" is quite common both in official documents and speeches of politicians, as well as in scientific papers, an accurate and clear definition of this concept has not yet been formulated in Russian political science.

The concept of a vector is used in many scientific disciplines, for example, in physics, mathematics, and geometry. So, in geometry, it is understood as a directional segment having a length and a certain direction. In the humanities, the term "vector" is used as a synonym for the word "trend." Therefore, when using the phrase "image vector", we mean the direction of image development.

In this paper, the author suggests the following definition of the concept: image vector is a specific direction of image formation and promotion, which is determined by the image maker and on the basis of which a PR strategy is based.

Thus, the vector of a country's image can be aimed at strengthening international relations, attracting investments, improving its reputation in the international arena, etc., depending on the key goal of a particular PR campaign. The image vector can be oriented towards various goals, the main thing is that adequate tools are selected and sufficient resources are allocated to achieve them ^{[7, 13, 19]}.

New vectors of Russia's international image

Instrumentally, the study focuses on the study of semantic fields, according to which the analysis of the frequency (statistics) of word usage in text arrays allows us to identify topics and problems typical of the community that these texts represent ^[16].

This study analyzed the speech of Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Valdai International Discussion Club in 2023.

The object of the research is the new vectors of Russia's international image, and the subject is the directions of the vectors of Russia's international image.

The hypothesis of the study is that the directions of the vectors of Russia's international image have changed significantly since the beginning of its conflict in Ukraine. To confirm the hypothesis, we selected the speech of Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Valdai International Discussion Club in 2023 and analyzed which vectors of cooperation between Russia and other countries the Russian president indicates in his speech. This particular speech was chosen for several reasons.:

• The Valdai International Discussion Club is developing a development strategy for several years ahead.

• The guidelines in foreign policy outlined by Russian President Vladimir Putin will be the basis for the work of the authorities responsible for shaping and promoting Russia's image to an external audience.

• In 2022, the situation in foreign policy was unstable, it was not possible to predict events for a long time, but in 2023 some areas became more clearly visible, and the hypotheses put forward earlier were confirmed by practice.

• By itself, Vladimir Putin's speech has an impact on Russia's image, as it is a significant informational occasion.

Quantitative content analysis supported by software was used as a research method. Using the AntConc program (v. 4.2.4), the text of speech was automatically processed according to the program's algorithms. At the first stage of the 3,302–word text study, keywords were identified based on the analysis of the semantic field, and at the second stage, the discourse about the selected keywords was analyzed (bigrams for the keyword were extracted – statistically significantly related words).

The following words and their derivatives were selected as keywords (in descending order):

· Civilization (occurs 22 times),

· Politics (occurs 15 times),

· Russia (meets 11 times),

· country (occurs 9 times),

· culture (occurs 8 times),

· Colonies (occurs 6 times),

· Enemy (occurs 6 times),

· State (occurs 5 times),

· Sovereignty (occurs 4 times),

· NATO (meets 4 times),

· USA (occurs 3 times),

· Historical experience (occurs 3 times),

· Asia (occurs 3 times),

· International relations (occurs 3 times),

· Europe (occurs 2 times),

· India (occurs 2 times),

· Economics (occurs 2 times),

· People's Republic of China (occurs 1 time),

· Africa (not found).

Based on the analysis of Vladimir Putin's speech at the Valdai International Discussion club2023, it can be hypothesized that the vectors of promoting Russia's image aimed at an external audience have shifted and become more diverse.

While until 2022 the main focus was on creating a positive image of Russia in European countries and the United States, recently the focus has shifted to promoting Russia's image in more regions, with other regions becoming no less a priority ^[8-12].

An analysis of the semantic fields of Vladimir Putin's speech at the Valdai International Discussion club2023 shows that Europe is mentioned no more often than India. In addition, the former European colonies are mentioned twice as often as Europe. These are huge territories, which host many different states and are home to a large number of peoples, which opens up new opportunities for shaping the image of Russia.

The President of the Russian Federation pronounces the word "civilization" and its derivatives 22 times, emphasizing the importance of the existence of different civilizations. Based on this, it can be concluded that the strategy of promoting a positive image of Russia will not be limited to the physical size of specific countries, but will be aimed at interacting with civilizations that do not have specific geographical outlines, but are based on cultural and humanitarian community.

Vladimir Putin does not mention Africa in his speech, but based on this, it is not worth concluding that the African continent is not a priority for promoting a positive image of Russia. The President of the Russian Federation mentions the colonies of the West, which included African countries.

According to the hypothesis put forward by the author, the following are relevant areas for promoting Russia's international image::

· Europe;

· USA;

· Africa;

· China;

· India;

· Latin America.

Key areas of building Russia's international image

The beginning of the CBO in 2022 led to a sharp deterioration in relations between Russia and most EU and US countries in those areas that form the objective basis of the country's image. However, it cannot be said that there have been no incidents before that negatively affect Russia's international image. A noticeable deterioration in Russia's image in European countries and the United States began in 2014 in connection with the events of the Crimean spring and the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine. Russia's involvement in the military conflict in Syria has negatively affected its image. The start of the special military operation was the result of the political confrontation between Russia and Ukraine that lasted for 8 years and led to measures against our country such as sanctions and restrictions on trade, as well as in economic, financial and industrial relations.

The "Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation" dated March 31, 2023 recognizes that Russia and Europe have important "points of contact: "geographical proximity, historically deep cultural, humanitarian and economic ties between the peoples and states of the European part of Eurasia." However, it is emphasized that it is important to enhance the international role of BRICS, SCO, CIS, EAEU, CSTO, RIC and other interstate associations. It is also indicated that it is important to support regional and sub-regional integration within the framework of friendly multilateral institutions, dialogue platforms and regional associations in the Asia-Pacific region, Latin America, Africa and the The Middle East.

This strategy seems to be the right one, given that today the perception of Russia's image differs significantly in different regions, as it is influenced by many factors. So, in regions where there is an established image of Russia, new political events, such as the CBO, can negatively affect the image of our country, however, in the end, it does not acquire new qualities. There is only an actualization of negative stereotypes and historical ideas about Russia. For example, in Europe, the prevailing negative image of Russia is determined by stereotypes, negative historical connotations, an ambiguous perception of modern events, and difficulties in shaping political and economic relations.

A similar perception of Russia's image was observed after the escalation of the situation in Donbas in 2014 and the annexation of Crimea: Russia's image in the European Union has seriously deteriorated. However, it was also not characterized by fundamentally new qualities, and there was an actualization of established historical stereotypes.

A key aspect of image optimization may be the promotion of the cultural and humanitarian image of Russia in various countries and regions ^{[14-15],[21-22]}.

As Vladimir Putin noted during a speech at the Valdai International Discussion Club, "The West always needs an enemy" ^[2,17], because his presence "frees the hands" of many Western politicians, and the aggression of the enemy can justify many actions that seem irrational. If there is no real enemy, it must be invented, so political propaganda in many countries makes significant efforts to make undesirable countries perceived as aggressors.

In order for our country not to be perceived as an enemy in the global information space, despite the many negative publications about Russia, it is necessary to conduct a large-scale campaign aimed at improving Russia's image. In the conditions of the modern information age, the image of the state as a factor of soft power is of great importance in international relations. And his role will always increase. There are also a number of other factors that confirm the need to work on improving Russia's image.:

- As a result of the annexation of Crimea and the military events on the territory of Ukraine, Russia's image in the European Union has seriously deteriorated. However, he has not acquired any new qualities. There has only been an actualization of negative stereotypes and historical ideas about Russia;

- A negative image seriously hinders Russia's effective interaction with Western countries, weakens Russia's foreign policy positions and hinders the establishment of political, economic and cultural ties.;

- The basis for improving Russia's image can be the creation and promotion of a unique brand "Russia", which should include the people, culture and traditions, investment and immigration legislation, foreign and domestic policy, export trademarks and tourism, i.e. all the vertices of the hexagon of the brand of the nation of S. Anholt, but, at the same time, the main focus The national brand should be focused on the humanitarian plane;

- Holding mega-events (Sochi 2014, the Universiade in Kazan and the 2018 World Cup), a well-known worldwide way of PR and promoting the country's brand ^[23], did not have a proper positive impact on the image of the Russian Federation, as such events were often accompanied by scandals and unpleasant details that were exaggerated in the Western press. Corruption scandals are hitting Russia's image especially hard, which only confirm the prevailing negative image of our country in this area. Successful image correction of the Russian Federation is possible only with continuous and competent coverage of events related to the Russian Federation that are significant and acute for the public and the media.;

- A key aspect of image optimization may be the promotion of the cultural and humanitarian image of Russia. Scientific, educational and cultural ties make it possible to counteract the deepening of the processes of seeing our country in a negative light ^[24].

Conclusion

In his speech at the Valdai 2023 International Discussion Club, Putin outlined not only the key vectors of image development, but also highlighted the specific meanings that Russia's international image should include. The main messages broadcast to an external international audience are the following:

- The basis of Russian civilization is the peaceful coexistence of a wide variety of nationalities, religions and cultures.

- The solutions proposed by Russia on various issues are always based on respect for the interests of all parties whose interests may be affected.

- The main priority in building a new open world is that no civilization imposes anything on other civilizations, but it also does not allow itself to be imposed.

- The diversity of the world should serve as the foundation of universal development.

- Collective solutions will prevail in the world of the future.

- Lasting peace and universal security can be ensured only by respecting the interests of all countries, from the largest to the smallest.

- Russia stands for equality and justice for all countries.

- Russian civilization has been one of the foundations of the global system for a long period of time.

- Russia has proved that it is able to cope with internal and external challenges.

The choice of these messages is due to many reasons, the main of which is the need to adjust the current international image of Russia.