Defending historical truth to save the nation: Russia’s youth and the securitisation of history

The Kremlin extensively uses the Great Patriotic War to legitimate its ‘Special Military Operation’ in Ukraine. Focusing on youth militarsation in Putin’s Russia, this article explores Moscow’s securitisation of wartime memories and the involvement of Russian patriotic youth groups to defend the state’s version of history. Using discourse analysis of material produced by the Victory Volunteers, one of Russia’s largest state-sponsored youth groups, the article argues that these young people are not passive recipients of the state’s securitising messages but instead actively participate in the process of protecting the state’s ‘historical truth’ and conveying it to future generations. In so doing, the article contributes to our understanding of the role of audiences in non-democratic settings in the securitisation process. It focuses on the Victory Volunteers’ annual St George Ribbon action that forms part of the celebrations to commemorate the Great Patriotic War victory. This action demonstrates that Russia’s youth participate in a complex, state-directed social process designed to shore up popular support for the war in Ukraine in the short term and to lay the foundations for the longer-term project of ensuring society will continue to regard war as a normal and necessary condition of Russia’s existence.