Condolences as Genre and Political Statement in Current Media Discourse

The article examines the genre of official condolences issued in response to a high-profile news event. The empirical material consists of 161 condolence messages from the governments of Asian, African, European, US, and Latin American countries addressed to the Russian Federation. These messages were published on March 22–23, 2024, on the verified Telegram channel of the Russian Foreign Ministry (t.me/MID_Russia) following the terrorist attack in Crocus City. The analysis focuses on six key semantic components within the texts: (1) nomination of the addressee, (2) qualification of the event, (3) nomination of victims, (4) expression of stance toward the event, (5) articulation of support and solidarity, and (6) prospects for future relations. This framework allowed for a detailed examination of the condolence corpus in light of the political positions and intentions of the senders. The study concludes that official condolences constitute a distinct genre of public relations texts. They serve multiple strategic functions, including positioning, image and reputation management, crisis response, and differentiation from competitors. These functions operate simultaneously for both external and internal audiences, highlighting the complex communicative role of condolence messages in international diplomacy.