Russia’s digital public diplomacy with the U.S. and China during the pre-Sochi period (2011–2014) from the language and communication perspectives

Abstract This study examines the strategies employed in Russia’s public diplomacy on digital platforms with the U.S. and China between its inception in 2011 and the conclusion of the Sochi Olympics in 2014 from the language and communication perspectives, by analyzing posts and articles from the official channels of the Information and Press Department of Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing on Weibo (1,281 pieces) and in San Francisco on Facebook (135 pieces). This article aims to reveal how Russia branded the country’s new image, popularized its leaders, garnered support from foreign audiences, and laid the groundwork for its subsequent narratives in the Russo-Ukrainian War. These efforts were practices of Russia’s spin dictatorship targeting foreign nations during 2011–2014 and executed through emphasizing soft-power content in digital public diplomacy, particularly through the strategic narrative on the Sochi Olympics. This study also aims to reveal Russia’s distinct approaches tailored to the Americans and the Chinese, considering their languages, cultures, and social contexts, and evaluate content strategies in Russia’s digital public diplomacy, including framing, lexical choices, language styles, ideological values, and linguistic impoliteness, through the most prominent cases during that period.