Jesting with a Double-Edge Sword: Nuclear Stigma Instrumentalization in Russia’s War with Ukraine

Abstract Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, one persistent question has been at the forefront of academic and policy discussions: how will Russia’s nuclear power status affect the dynamics of this war, and how far is Russia prepared to go in its nuclear policy? This paper specifically explores one part of this larger discussion by focusing on how and why Russia engages with the stigma surrounding nuclear weapons. To do so, we first develop an analytical framework based on a new theoretical contribution—stigma instrumentalization. Rather than avoiding the stigma of nuclear weapons or dismissing it, Russia instead tries to reframe the perspective on both nuclear weapons and energy to reaffirm its great power status. Through analyzing the discourse of Russian political elite, through their speeches, public discussions, and open letters to the UN and IAEA, we uncover how Russia instrumentalizes the nuclear stigma to legitimize its deviant behavior, granted to it as a great power with nuclear weapons. Moreover, it constructs a deviant Other, Ukraine and the West, who recklessly engage with nuclear weapons and technology. This framing is promoted as Russia looks for recognition not only of its status but of its actions in its war against Ukraine.