title: Russia’s Legitimizing Narrative for Annexation: Impetus or Pretext?
abstract: Following the Russian Federation’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014, the Kremlin constructed a legitimizing narrative to justify its inflammatory foreign policy decision. This narrative in turn builds an argument for the legality of the annexation, as well as one for its morality. These arguments were presented as the driving forces for its decision to occupy and annex the peninsula and then diffused by Russia’s political class in addition to their security-related justifications. But a closer
journal: Flux International Relations Review