Mnemonic Jazz Band Strategies : A Study of Russian Memory Politics and Russian Narratives of Georgia’s Past

Russian memory politics is an integral part of Russia’s foreign policy toolkit used in the country’s interaction with other post-Soviet states. While much research on this topic has concentrated on Ukraine and the Baltic states, Georgia has received less attention. This thesis identifies narratives of Georgia’s past disseminated in English-language content for international audiences by Russian state and state-aligned actors between October 2020 and October 2024 and analyzes how these narratives function as memory practices. The thesis uses a qualitative content analysis on texts published by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Russian International Affairs Council, the Valdai Discussion Club, International Affairs, RT, and Sputnik. An inductively developed coding frame identified four main narrative categories: Russian Influence, Conflict, Western Influence, and Georgian State and Leadership which were operationalized through 12 subcategories. The findings show a strong emphasis on the post-Soviet period. The year 2008 serves as the central historical reference point with the Russo-Georgian war and NATO’s Bucharest summit being repeatedly invoked to legitimize the Russian state and delegitimize Georgia and the West. Across the sources, Russia is framed as a defensive “peace enforcer”, Georgia as an aggressor and internally weak state, and Western actors, especially NATO and the United States, as destabilizing forces that use Georgia against Russia. Interpreted through Jade McGlynn’s typology of memory practices, the narratives function primarily to export the preferred Russian version of Georgia’s past while critiquing Georgia and the West’s historical actions and roles. The thesis contributes to an empirically grounded categorization of recurring Russian English-language narratives about Georgia’s past and highlights post-Soviet events as part of a usable repertoire in Russia’s memory politics.