Description
Russia has taken over 20,000 children from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. The main goal of the kidnappings is to impose new identities on these children. This paper details the methods through which the Russian state tries to impose new identities, both metaphorically and bureaucratically, on kidnapped Ukrainian children. In so doing, Russian authorities aim to justify their own propaganda concerning Ukraine: Ukraine does not exist and Ukrainians are just brainwashed Russians. It is notable that these kidnappings did not happen until 2022 (eg in 2014), suggesting they are at least partly a reaction to Russian insecurity at realising the lack of evidence for Russian ‘ownership’ over Ukrainian identity. Using discourse analysis of Russian coverage of the deportations, the paper will first justify this argument and track the ‘logic’ Russian official sources and government media apply to justify the deportations. Second, it will use this coverage combined with data from the Ukrainian Centre for Resistance to categorise the methods of deidentification utilised by Russia during the longer deportation and reeducation process: 1) bureaucratic deidentification (changing names and birthdays so children cannot be found); mnemonic deidentification (inculcating an alternative history); erasure of Ukrainian identity as an existing concept; encouraging association with Russia and rejection of Ukraine. The paper concludes by arranging these categories within a procedure of deidentification and explores any new practices that may emerge.
