Sanctions and Russian Identity Construction: A Constructivist Study on Sanctions as a Normative Challenge

The article examines Russia’s response to sanctions within a broader process of identity reconstruction after post 2022 Russia’s foreign policy realignments. The paper proceeds as follows. The first section reviews the literature situating this study within existing debates on sanctions, identity, and Russian foreign policy. The second section outlines the constructivist theoretical framework, emphasizing how normative pressures shape state identities. The third section examines how Russia’s leadership discourse, official rhetoric, and policy decisions reflect identity-driven responses to sanctions. The fourth and fifth sections examine Russia’s deepening diplomatic and economic engagements with China and the Global South. The article concludes that the constructivist perspective explains Russia’s diplomatic and economic realignment as a major shift for global governance and international order based on principles of sovereignty, non-interference, and resistance to Western liberal hegemony.