Discourses of legitimation in strategic narratives: the case of Russia’s war against Ukraine

International security dynamics are increasingly studied within the analytical framework of strategic narratives. We offer a methodological contribution towards analysing the rhetorical mechanisms of legitimation and delegitimation in strategic narratives projected by perpetrators of wars of aggression. Building upon insights from critical discourse studies, we propose an analytical distinction between narratives that primarily function to legitimise the aggression and those that delegitimise the critics of the aggression. A further distinction is made between four kinds of identity narratives: those that primarily focus on either (1) the target of aggression, (2) the aggressor, (3) the allies of the target of the aggression or (4) the allies of the aggressor. We also suggest that legitimations in strategic narratives fall under three broad analytical categories: (1) authorisations, (2) moralisations and (3) rationalisations. These distinctions are useful as they help to think more systematically about how different strategic (de)legitimation narratives may target particular audiences – an idea that could be explored further by drawing on the concept of “Model Reader”. We illustrate this approach by analysing a specialised dataset of English language social media content published by the Russian government during its attack on Ukraine in 2022.