Discourses on Russian food embargo 2014 to the European countries in the Russian and European mass media

3. Definition of sanctions and food embargo and background information on sanction application

3.1 Legal definitions of sanctions and food embargo

The major sphere where the transformation of the definition of sanction are evident, traceable and immediately affect the social reality in the sphere of the law. With time, sanctions have gained valid legal framework, and starting from 17th century these phenomena has become institutionalized and defined in terms of crime and punishment. Legal definition does not vary noticeably across countries and regions. However, the term can be used in different aspects of law, thus have diverse connotations. Generally, sanctions are composed of these main elements: violation of a law or a treaty, a reward for its observance, a punitive act against the one, who has violated a law or a treaty.

In the field of legal definitions, Giddens' idea of the “duality structure” correspond with the “sanction” as a broad term with different meanings within different contexts. Here, the structural component is present in the form of institution of law that dictates states' governments how to interpret other states' governments actions on the international arena in relation to legal regulations. The agency component is also very strong in the sphere of law since laws changes regularly. The law gives governmental agents, i.e. politicians, an opportunity to act with and against others by law as a structure. Politicians have knowledge of schemes that inform political life and have access to measures of human and non-human resources. There agency arise from their knowledge of schemes and ability to apply them to the existing or new context. Moreover, the decisions which are made by politicians are often influenced by social movements that are organized by citizens who seek change in legislature due to changes in social, economic, political, cultural life.

Examples of sanctions in International law include economic sanctions that typically refer to ban of trade with limitations to certain sectors or with certain exceptions; international sanctions that adopted by a country or a group of countries against another state or individual to achieve a change in their behavior; pragmatic sanctions that tend to be issued when there is a need for change in the rules. In other uses, sanctions could be defined by Criminal law as a punishment for a criminal offense and include such measures as death, incarceration, monetary fines and other restrictive measures. Sanctions could be seen as measures of social control, that could refer to form of governmental control. For example, European Commission define sanctions as “the policy of the European Union to intervene when necessary to prevent conflict or respond to emerging or actual crises”. This policy is used to reach certain objectives: to promote international peace and security, to prevent conflicts, to defend democratic principles and human rights, to fight terrorism. The measures may include embargoes, trade restrictions, financial restrictions, movement restrictions. Food embargo is included in economic sanctions. As I am studying the case of Russian food embargo 2014, I have taken the definition from “Executive Order on Special Economic Measures to Protect Russia's Security” published on the official internet resource of the President of Russia. Food embargo is defined by Russian government as “a ban or restriction on foreign economic operations involving the import to Russia of particular kinds of agricultural produce, raw materials and foodstuffs originating in countries that have decided to impose economic sanctions on Russian legal entities and/or physical individuals, or have joined such decisions”. The most interesting fact about this definition is that food embargo is seen as countermove. Those restrictive measures are developed as a respond to sanctions against Russian Federation introduced by governments of certain states.

Legal definitions of sanctions and food embargo seems to me to be persuasive and useful to base the current research since they are not contested by scholars and are narrow enough to give accurate understanding of case under study. Definitions, presented above can't be used to distinguish the object of current research from the related concepts.

3.2 Historical and social-cultural background of economic sanctions

Economic sanctions were increasingly used as instruments of foreign policy throughout the history. Sanctions are actions against a state considered to be violating international regulations and are developed to make the state under restrictive measures to obey international law. Sanctions include refuse of diplomatic recognition, boycotting cultural and sports events, sequestering of property of citizens of the state, restrictions on international trade, financial flows and movement of people.

In modern history, the first recorded application of sanctions was pacific blockade that dates from 1827 Davis L., Engerman S. History Lessons Sanctions: Neither War nor Peace, 2003, when reinforcement of the Turkish and Egyptian forces fighting in Greece was prevented in the Greek fight for independence from Turkey, Britain, France and Russia. In those times, economic sanctions were mostly naval blockades by countries or coalitions in order to interrupt commercial intercourse with ports. Though, most blockades followed wars, those measures evolved gradually into pressure mechanism of debts repayments and settling international disputes. Those actions started to be considered as measures of international policy. Navy blockades were generally used by powerful European states against smaller states in Europe and emerging states in Latin America and Asia. “The list of targeted states included Turkey in 1827; Portugal in 1831; Holland in 1832-1833; Colombia in 1834; Panama in 1837; Mexico in 1838; Argentina in 1838-1840; San Salvador in 1842; Nicaragua in 1842 and again in 1844; Argentina in 1845-1850; Greece in 1850; Sicily in 1860-1861; Brazil in 1862-1863; Bolivia in 1879; China in 1884-1885; Greece, again, in 1886; Zanzibar in 1888-1889; Siam in 1893; Greece, yet again, in 1897; and Venezuela in 1902-1903” Ibid.. Among the countries, which used blockades were Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Russia, Austria and Chile. Clearly, the targeted countries were small and underdeveloped and were oppressed by greater powers. The legal discussion occurred with the formation of League of Nations and later of the United Nations. The League of Nations embodied the power of sanction implementation in article 16 of the League's Covenant as a collective action against states that fomented war. There were four cases of sanctions application by League of Nations: “in 1921 (versus Yugoslavia); 1925 (versus Greece); 1932-1935 (versus both Paraguay and Bolivia, to settle the Chaco War); and, most notably and most unsuccessfully, in conjunction with the United Kingdom against Italy in 1935-1936 after the Italian invasion of Ethiopia” Ibid..

In case of the United Nations, the power to enforce sanctions was rooted in articles 2(4), 39, 41, 42, 43 and 46 of the UN charter and in the Uniting for Peace Resolution of 1950. In general, the imposition of sanction grew significantly after the World War2. In total, there were “15 cases in the 1950s, 20 in the 1960s, 37 in the 1970s, 23 in the 1980s and at least 50 in the 1990s” of sanction application. In the period between 1946 and 1990 sanctions were applied against North Korea, South Africa, Portugal, Rhodesia and Iraq. Since the 1990s, the United Nations mostly applies sanctions against African states.

There are countries under comprehensive or selective sanctions, that are using the blocking of assets and trade restrictions to accomplish foreign policy and national security goals. There is a sanctions risk list in regard to: Afghanistan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burma, Burundi, Central African Republic, China, Conakry, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Cuba, Egypt, Eritrea, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Ivory Coast, North Korea, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Moldova, Myanmar, Russian Federation, Serbia and Montenegro, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan (North), Syria, Tunisia, Ukraine, Venezuela, Yemen, Zimbabwe. Those countries are currently to the beginning of 2017 under restrictive measures from the EU and\or USA. Typically, those sanctions target trade and investments, what doesn't allow the targeted country fully to participate in international market exchange. In some cases, restrictions concern arms and oil production and trade. Furthermore, partly they cut off air traffic, suspend or drastically curtail diplomatic relations, block movement of persons, bar investments, freeze international bank deposits.

Due to the recent increase of sanctions application, a lot of debates emerged concerning the contexts, in which their imposition might be appropriate. Since international organizations have not developed any standards and regulations in sanction application, a great number of critics appeared arguing that sanctions are cruel, unfair and even violent. If in the early period sanctions were of military actions, in recent decades economic sanctions have become standard tool for achievement of such goals as forestalling war; inserting common freedoms and democracy; cleaning up the environment; protecting and strengthening human rights or labor rights; decrease in nuclear weapon distribution; the freeing of captured citizens; and the reversal of captured land. They can also serve to meet some domestic concerns. However, if there are no any legal or formal rules and regulations of sanctions impositions, they form out of world public find acceptable. And acceptability is influenced by existing power relation among and within nations.

A great deal of studies has been devoted to the subject of economic sanctions. Early works were based on case studies of League of Nations sanctions (see e.g. Galtung, 1967; Hoffman, 1967; Baer, 1973; Schreiber, 1973; Olson, 1979; von Amerongen, 1980; Wallensteen, 1983). There were researches investigating the effectiveness of sanctions (e.g. Barber, 1979; Baldwin, 1985; Lindsay, 1986; Wagner, 1988; Nossal, 1989; Tsebelis, 1990). The performance of sanctions could depend on various assigned goals, on the type and scope of the chosen sanction, on determination of the economic and political impacts on the target country, on the interaction among the number of sanction senders. However, there are certain examples of why sanctions would not ``work'' to bring about changes in target state policies. The sanctions against Panama in 1987 applied by the USA could illustrate the failure of sanctions implementation. An effort to destabilize the Noriega regime was not effective, as the Reagan and Bush administrations was not ready to destroy the relationship with political allies in Panamanian business and financial sectors Elliott K.A, Hufbauer G. C. and Oegg B. Sanctions. Library Economics Liberty. 2008. As a result, sanctions failed to achieve their goals and the USA had to take Noriega by force.

In many cases, sanctions are used to send a symbolic signal. However, it could also fail to reach its objectives. The example could be a grain embargo by American President Jimmy Carter against the Soviet Union in 1980 that resulted in mass protest of American farmers. Sanctions are aimed to change political direction in a targeted country that should be designed very accurate and fast, that is a challenging task. A slow mode of sanctions introduction can give the targeted state time to adjust to new circumstances by finding new markets and suppliers, creating new alliances and gaining public support of its policies on domestic arena. An illustration for such a case could be Great Britain's “slow and deliberate strategy in response to Ian Smith's “unilateral declaration of independence” in Rhodesia in 1965. Aided by hesitation and delays, the Smith regime was able to use import substitution, smuggling, and other circumvention techniques to fend off black majority rule for more than a decade” Ibid.. From these examples, one can see that sanctions are not always effective. If in the first two decades after the World War II they were successful in a half of the cases (“twenty-seven successes out of sixty-one cases” Ibid.), later the development of world economy had narrowed effectiveness of economic sanctions. An increasing interdependence of states economies has made sanctions a double-edged sword.

3.3 Legal background of EU sanctions against Russia over Ukraine crisis

The economic measures introduced by international society “in response to the illegal annexation of Crimea and deliberate destabilization of a neighboring sovereign country” European Union newsroom. EU sanctions against Russia over Ukraine crisis are being used as a wider framework for my research. The European Union was focusing on de-escalating the crisis in Ukraine, which emerged on November 2013 after president Viktor Yanukovych suspended to sign the Association Agreement of the Ukraine with the European Union, that resulted in mass protests and political crises. Due to instability in Ukraine, Russia has declared Crimea and Sevastopol as parts of Russian Federation on 21 March 2014 on the ground of the conducted referendum. The European Union did not recognize Crimea as part of the Russian Federation and claimed joining it to Russia as “illegal annexation”. In response to the Russian actions in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine the EU imposed economic sanctions in July 2014 and reinforced them in September 2014. In March 2015, the European Council linked the duration of those economic restrictions to the complete implementation of the Minsk Agreements. Thus, the EU restrictive measures were extended in March 2015, then on 1 July 2016 and on 21 December 2016, when they were prolonged until 31 July 2017. As part of the sanctions, the EU-Russia summits were canceled since 2014, as Asset freezes and visa bans for a number of the Russian officials and politicians were introduced. As part of the EU's non-recognition policy of the Crimea's and Sevastopol's inclusion into Russian Federation, the EU has imposed substantial restrictions on economic exchanges with the territory. Moreover, measures targeting sectoral cooperation and exchanges with Russia were introduced. Those measures “aimed at limiting access to EU capital markets for Russian State-owned financial institutions, an embargo on trade in arms, an export ban for dual use goods for military end use and end users, and restrictions on access to certain sensitive technologies particularly in the oil sector” European Commission. Commission Guidance note on the implementation of certain provisions of Regulation, 2015.

3.4 Legal background of food embargo introduction by Russia

Federal Law on special economic measures was signed by the President of the Russian Federation on December 30, 2006. The aim of the law was to provide security of Russia and its interests. According to it, certain measures can be applied: suspension of the implementation of all or parts of programs in the field of economic and technical assistance, as well as in the sphere of military-technical cooperation programs; ban on financial transactions or restrictions of their implementation; ban on foreign operations or application of certain restrictions; cessation of international trade agreements and other international treaties in the field of foreign economic relations; changes in export and (or) import duties; restrictions on entry into the ports of the Russian Federation, and the use of Russian airspace or its parts; limitations on tourism activities; refusal to participate in international scientific and technical program.

Following this Law, that became a part of framework to economic policy of Russia, the Doctrine of the Russian Federation Food Security was adopted on February 1, 2010. Its main objective was development of the domestic food production and raw materials sufficient to ensure food independence. On August 6 2014, the Decree “On the Application of Certain Special Economic Measures in order to Ensure the Security of the Russian Federation” was adopted. Russian President Vladimir Putin has banned or curbed agricultural imports from countries imposing sanctions on Russia over the crisis in Ukraine. Decree cites "national interests" as a ground for these measures. The list of goods being affected includes meat and milk products, fish, fruits and vegetables, nuts. The food embargo was extended on 25 June 2015, and on 29 July 2015 the Decree on Destruction of Food under Embargo was signed. The August 2015 brought the extension of food embargo on Albania, Liechtenstein, Iceland, Montenegro and since 1 January 2016 also - on Ukraine. In September 2016 salt has been put under embargo. On 29 July 2016, the food embargo has been prolonged from 6 August 2016 to 31 December 2017 by the special decree.

4. Structure of media discourse in Russia and EU countries

As it was shown in the first chapter, in this study discourse is understood in Foucauldian tradition as a set of signs and meanings that present repeating connections and relations among each other and form sets of justifications. Discourse is the process of construction of meanings and its result. In this regard, two dimensions of discourse can be distinguished. First level relates to the institutional field of media, which is formed by actors who gain access to it by the reason of being a professional in the field: reporters, journalists, editors and production stuff. This field of discourse was already discerned in the current methodology when I chose the corpus data: articles in specific mass media that address the topic of food embargo.

The next level of discourse is concerned with analysis of food embargo construction in media. Various groups of interests have access to the formation of understanding of food embargo. Their views are also presented in the media, where they form sub-discourses and compete for dominance in assigning their meanings. To understand, which actors produce and influence the dominant and counter-discourses, it is essential to study the structure of media discourse.

With the description of the structure of the discourses, their general characteristic is given. There are various elements to the structure of discourse: linguistic, rhetorical, temporal, macro- and microstructure, and many others. This analysis of the structure of discourse is based on Keller's SKAD method that presupposes the study of not only major, central and minor themes, as well as the connections between them, but also of categories, actors and their positioning in the discourse.

4.1 Themes

One of the components of the structure of discourse is the recurring of themes that are presented in it. During the selection of the texts for the research, intermediary analysis was carried out. It showed that some themes appear frequently alongside the topic of food embargo in the media discourse. Frequent use was established by looking at topics which featured in mass media under study for more than two times.

It is possible to distinguish similar themes that appear in Russian and EU countries' mass media. They could be divided into four types.

The first type of themes is coherent to general international representation of food embargo on political arena, where legislative changes are discussed, various points of view on consequences of food embargo in economic, political and social spheres are presented, a general overview on the food embargo is introduced. Here, the topic is closely connected to Ukraine crises. International sanctions to Russia and its respond in the form of food embargo are highly discussed in mass media as very urgent topic of recent times.

The second type of themes relates to farming or/and enterprises, which have gained or lost from introduction of food embargo. Each studied mass media has series of articles dedicated to farming or/and enterprises and concerns of farmers and managers on food embargo. Each media has relatively even representation of the topic, as food representation in the media has created broader awareness of the diverse chains of global food production, distribution and consumption. Food embargo becomes the measure of how modern society responded to modern challenges.

The third type of themes is related to food destruction by the Russian authorities. Though, this topic is mostly covered by Russian TASS. The European media are more likely to touch the issue of food destruction, presenting problems with food supply on the Russian border and returning food back to its origin. Furthermore, European mass media discuss the ways of escaping food ban by using neutral countries as transshipment bases for food from EU countries within the frame of food destruction.

The fourth topic is devoted to social events and consequences to food embargo introductions. For example, BBC published articles on free bread offered to pensioners (BBC News, 2015-03-06); price rise, that have influence people's everyday life (BBC News, 20140-08-14); closure of McDonald's restaurant in Moscow (BBC News, 2014-08-21); flash mobs on eating apples (BBC News, 2014-07-31) and others. Postimees has almost the same set of articles on social events as BBC. On top, it also includes an overview on Russian people's practices to buy food in Estonian supermarkets and how those practices have changed due to food ban (Postimees, 2014-08-09).

Der Spiegel prefers to avoid social events in their articles or mixes the topic on social events with three other topics. For example, in one of its articles the references to flash mob on eating apples are connected to legislative changes in Germany: “Bundeslandwirtschaftsministerm Christian Schmidt ist offenbar ein Freund markiger Slogans: “An apple a day keeps the Putin away!” <...> “Man kann naturlich nicht lamentieren daruber, dass es viel Obst gibt, und kein Obst essen”, sagte Schmidt weiter. Er forderte die Bevolkerung daher wegen des russischen Lebensmittel-Embargos zum Verzehr betroffener Produkte auf. Obst konne man “zu Beginn am fruhen Morgen” und “funfmal am Tag” essen. Er sei auch dafur, das Programm fur die Ausgabe von Obst in Schulen auszudehnen”. [“Federal Minister of Economics Christian Schmidt is obviously a friend of pithy slogans: “An apple a day keeps the Putin away!” <...> “Of course you cannot lament that there is a lot of fruits, and not eat fruits,” Schmidt said. He therefore called on the population to eat products affected by Russian food embargo. Fruits you could eat “early in the morning” and “five times a day”. He is also in favor of extending the program for the distribution of fruits in schools”.] (Der Spiegel, 2014-09-02).

I would also point out, in Der Spiegel, the total number of articles dedicated to the food embargo are considerably less than in other mass media under study, thus it combines topics to give maximum information in a smaller volume.

Almost the same position, as German Der Spiegel, holds Russian mass media TASS. It mixes different topics together for, I suppose, the reason of extreme politicization of food embargo discussions. Moreover, I see that TASS launches the spiral of silence to the topics of social events. Thus, following Noelle-Neumann's “spiral of silence theory”, there is unequal representation of topics and actors that lead to a very powerful dominant discourse and a weak opposition voices. Using other topics as framing for social events connected to food embargo, Russian mass media disguise social problems. According to the framing theory, TASS promotes its problem definition and casual interpretations by using corresponding framing techniques.

Furthermore, TASS as well as Postimees has articles on changes of people's practices to buy food due to the food embargo (TASS, 2014-08-18). However, those articles mix two above mentioned topics: one is devoted to social events and another one is connected to farmers or/and enterprises. Moreover, TASS often describes the same events as British, German or Estonian mass media but from different angel. For example, topics, that I have grouped under the name of “social events”, in Russian mass media are closer to the topics of legislative changes or/and topics dedicated to farmers and enterprises concerns (TASS, 2014-09-09).

The above listed themes constitute typology, that presents recurring situations and characters, with which readers compare their life experiences and knowledge on food embargo, and which serve as a matrix of what construct understanding of food embargo.

4.2 Categories

Using open and axial coding, proposed by Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss, in the process of the research, certain sub-themes within mentioned themes were identified in the discourse. These sub-themes, listed below, present the elements, through which construction of food embargo is conducted. During current research, I have divided the discourse into following fragments that provide categories for the unit of analysis:

These discourse fragments are related to the distinguished categories which are used by different mass media to construct discourse on food embargo. This systematization will help in further analysis of the way the discourse of food embargo is constructed in Russian and EU countries' media. For the current research, some discourse fragments were analyzed more closely, such as actors, characteristic of villain and victim, myths on food embargo, rhetoric, stylistic tools, styles, background discourses.

4.3 Actors

Social actors are understood as those individuals and groups who produce utterances and statements in the field of media. Actors are presented in the discourses in the speaking position, where they use specific discursive practices to construct and transform meanings.

The results of discourse analysis show that all cases have the same set of actors who shape discourse on food embargo. In the media under study, most people, whose opinions are expressed, are “ordinary people”. The most frequent of “ordinary people's” opinion presentation is in the Russian and Estonian mass media. However, the way it is depicted in some cases is different. In British, Estonian and German mass media those actors are mainly seen as victims, and violation of their rights often takes the central stage of the narrative. In their claims, the people may address to human rights and humanity: “I think we have to distribute food, not destroy it”, says activist Andrei Volko <...> “I know there are a lot of people who need this food. Destroying it is not humane,” Mr Volkov argues” (BBC News, 2015-08-07). Often their words are presented in the form of a story or as a background to the main topic of the article: “The sight of vast amounts of banned foreign food being bulldozed, buried or burned is causing controversy in Russia. <...> “If they start destroying food, what next? It's like our authorities don't care about the people,” argues Muscovite Olga Saveleva (pictured), who has launched an online petition against the decree” (BBC News, 2015-08-07).

“Nikolai (56), a cottage owner from St Petersburg admitted he'd be missing the foreign cheese. But he is not about to come to Estonia just for the cheeses. “When, on the counter, I see our own cheese next to one produced in Estonia or Latvia, the choice always falls for the latter [two],” said Nikolai. “When it comes to sanctions imposed by Russia - this is not about food at all, - I principally do not approve of these; I consider this a horrible stupidity like all of the Putinist politics of late. It is very repulsive to me” (Postimees, 2014-08-12).

“Das bekommen auch wei?russische Kunden zu spuren: Lokale Produkte werden in den heimischen Laden teurer oder verschwinden ganz aus den Regalen. Auch die Qualitat nehme in letzter Zeit ab, beschweren sich einige. Der Rentner Leonid Deiko beklagt, dass er seine bevorzugte Milchsorte nicht mehr bekomme. “Ich glaube, die ganze gute Milch wird nach Russland geschickt.” Die plotzliche Fulle an Lebensmitteln aus der EU lasst ihn kalt. “Ich brauche keine importierten Produkte, die wurdige ich keines Blickes” [This is also felt by Belorussian customers: Local products are becoming more expensive in the local shops or disappear completely from the shelves. The quality is also decreasing lately, some complain. The pensioner Leonid Deiko complains that he no longer gets his favorite milk. “I think all the good milk is sent to Russia”. The sudden abundance of food from the EU leaves him cold. “I do not need imported products, which I dare not look at”.] (Der Spiegel, 2014-09-20).

Those stories present social problematization of food embargo. The effect of victimization is achieved through the depiction of real-human experience and their reactions.

Meanwhile, in Russian TASS, “ordinary people” are usually introduced in a positive bias. If British and Estonian media in most articles present “ordinary people” to tell about violation of their rights and to show their suffering from the food embargo consequences, TASS introduces “ordinary people”, for example, to comment on the positive effect of food embargo or show their confidence that food embargo would not change their everyday life: “После введения санкций все изменилось, - констатирует Уолкер. - От партнеров нет отбоя. Те, кто раньше отказывался от моей продукции, теперь выстроились в очередь за ней”. [“After the introduction of sanctions, everything has changed, - ascertains Walker. - There is plenty of partners now. Those who has previously refused my products, now line up for it”]. (TASS, 2014-08-25).

It is needed to be outlined that category “ordinary people” in many cases is used by Russian mass media in indirect way: “Граждане РФ полагают, что отечественные продукты питания лучше иностранных или одинаковы по качеству - исследование ВЦИОМ” [Citizens of the Russian Federation believe that domestic food is better than foreign or similar in quality - a study by VTSIOM]. (TASS, 2015-10-9). TASS introduces politicians, policy-makers, research agencies, experts who are often speak on people's behalf.

On the other hand, Der Spiegel also describes situations in which people are wining from Russian food embargo: “Danke, Wladimir Putin!”, sagt der Ingenieur Wladimir Nesterowitsch und kauft seinem Sohn eine Packung italienisches Geback fur umgerechnet 1,70 Euro in einem Supermarkt in Minsk. Solche Importguter gab es fruher nur in ausgewahlten Feinkostladen zu Preisen, die drei- oder viermal so hoch waren wie in Europa. Somit waren sie fur die meisten der 9,5 Millionen Wei?russen unerschwinglich”. [“Thank you, Vladimir Putin,” says the engineer Vladimir Nesterovich, buying a pack of Italian pastries for his son for a price of 1.70 euros in a supermarket in Minsk. Imports of this kind were previously only available in selected delicatessens at prices three or four times as high as in Europe. Thus, they were prohibitive for most of the 9.5 million Belorussian]. (Der Spiegel, 2014-09-20).

Estonian newspaper “Postimees” also presents in its articles Russian people's citation, who are supportive to Russian policy related to food embargo: “Olga (a vacationer in her 40s) who called Narva-Joesuu her favourite spot for holidays said her native St Petersburg has excellent choice of foods and there will be no problems with the sanctions. <...> “When they hit you, sooner or later you hit back. This was in response to the stupidity and idiocy of European sanctions. And, anyhow, it is not food that matters in life, but the sense of justice”. (Postimees, 2014-08-12).

Interestingly, that Der Spiegel and Postimees are using positively biased and negatively biased citations in one article at the same time, creating binary opposition. Binary opposition includes two poles of matters and show relation between them. It characterizes society and shows power relation between different discourses. The binary opposition is used to express a competition of discourses with each other to ensure their legitimacy and power to construct social phenomena as “truth” according to their view, power is mostly perceived as a systemic and constitutive element/characteristic of society, as suggested by Foucault, who is one the theoretical `godfathers' of CDA Wodak R., Meyer M. Critical discourse analysis: History, agenda, theory and methodology. 2009.

Along with “ordinary people”, there is also a separate category of claim-makers - “farmers”. In the European mass media, they are shown from the victim position. They are characterized as having financial difficulties, angry, suffering, disappointing, in a challenging situation, needing support from government, extremely concerned etc.: “As you can imagine it's very disappointing. Russia was a very new market, about 2-3% of our business, but we had an expansion plan for the next two to three years”. (BBC News, 2014-08-10). Furthermore, “farmers” are depicted by British and Estonian mass media in a rather assertive manner. They are making claims through demonstrations: “But the farmers say that they need much more, arguing that French agriculture is on the verge of collapse. Their tractors, spray-painted with "Anger'" or "Enough Bureaucracy", trundled on Thursday morning along major roads in the capital”. (BBC News, 2015-09-03).

“Фермеры прибывают в Брюссель на тракторах. Колонны из сотен сельскохозяйственных машин затрудняют движение на дорогах, ведущих к столице Бельгии” [Farmers arrive to Brussels on tractors. Columns of hundreds of agricultural machines make it difficult to traffic on roads leading to the capital of Belgium]. (Postimees, 2015-09-07).

Postimees as well as Der Spiegel tend to present farmers' claims using experts and enterprises top-managers' opinions: “Die Situation ist schwierig”, sagte Bauernprasident Joachim Rukwied. Die wirtschaftliche Lage der Betriebe bleibe angespannt. Bei den Investitionen sei nochmals ein deutlicher Ruckgang zu erwarten, sagte der Bauernprasident. Er kritisierte, dass Nahrungsmittelhersteller und Handel den Bauern zu niedrige Preise fur Lebensmittel diktierten”. [“The situation is difficult,” said farmer-president Joachim Rukwied. The economic situation of the enterprises remains tense. Regarding investments, a further significant decline is to be expected, said the farmer president. He criticized that food producers and traders dictated too low prices for food to farmers”]. (Der Spiegel, 2015-08-15).

At the same time, in Russian mass media farmers' opinions are often described in affirmative way: “У хозяйства есть несколько проработанных проектов, "но мы не могли начинать их (без государственной поддержки)", пояснил Буданов. Запрет на импорт сельхозпродукции из ряда стран он рассматривает как "хороший толчок", чтобы заняться производством нетипичной для хозяйства продукции”. [“The farm has several elaborated projects, “but we could not start them (without the state support),” explained Budanov. The ban on import of agricultural products from a number of countries he regards as a “good push” for engaging the production of atypical products for the farm”]. (TASS, 2014-11-20).

Politicians and policy-makers also occupy a significant position in the discourse of Russian and European mass media. The topic of food embargo is highly politicized and almost every article in all cases present politicians and policy-makers' opinions and claims. In addition, their position in the discourse is stated to be crucial since they have control over policy-making and laws.

“We need to continue to provide a safety net to give security to producers who continue to face difficulties in relation to the [Russian] ban,” EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan said”. (BBC News, 2015-07-30).

“Мы не должны становиться мягкотелыми, опасаясь, что сегодня не сможем продать в Россию еще две тонны сыра!» - призвал в дискуссии о перспективах развития отношений с восточным соседом член Представительского собрания Свободной партии Сергей Метлев”. [“We should not become spineless, fearing that we will not be able to sell two more tons of cheese to Russia!” - Sergey Matlev, member of the Representative Assembly of the Free Party, in his claims for discussion on the prospects of developing relations with the eastern neighbor”]. (Posteemes, 2016-03-28).

“Ich empfehle sehr, dass wir die WTO-Verhandlungen mit Russland uber die Offnung des Schweinefleischmarktes nutzen, damit wir Stuck fur Stuck an eine Offnung des Marktes fur Lebensmittel nach Russland herankommen", sagte Schmidt in Brussel (Bundeslandwirtschaftsminister Christian Schmidt)”. [“I strongly recommend that we use the WTO negotiations with Russia on the opening of the pigmeat market, so that we can gradually approach an opening of the food market to Russia,” said Schmidt in Brussels (Federal Minister of Economics Christian Schmidt)”]. (Der Spiegel, 2016-02-15).

“По мнению Полтавченко, в Петербурге нет оснований для беспокойства ни по каким видам продукции <...> "Есть определенные проблемы по сыру, но вместо французского будет знаменитый на весь мир швейцарский, контракты уже заключены", - сообщил градоначальник”. [“According to Poltavchenko, in St. Petersburg there are no grounds to worry about any type of products. <...> "There are certain problems with cheese, but instead of French one, there will be a world-famous Swiss cheese, contracts have already been concluded,” said the mayor”]. (TASS, 2014-08-21).

Expert's opinions are presented in all mass media. Most speakers are specialists in the field of law, sociology, media, history, agriculture and others, or top-managers of big enterprises, presenting their expert's knowledge or the results of researches in the articles. They show how food embargo influence economic and social life.

“We have fundamental problems,” agriculture specialist Yelena Tyurina told the BBC. “There is a shortage of milk as a raw material. The gap is filled by milk powder, but that is supplied by EU countries, the Baltic states in particular”. (BBC News, 2014-08-20).

“Last year there has been no noticeable increase in shoppers from Russia. Probably, this is because of the fall of the ruble and the impact of the events in Ukraine,” said Nadezda Sasevoi, market manager at Narva Astri Shopping Centre”. (Postimees, 2014-08-12).

“Das hat sicherlich mit der Ukraine-Krise zu tun”, sagte GTAI-Experte Robert Hermann am Mittwoch der Nachrichtenagentur Reuters”. [“This certainly has to do with the Ukraine crisis," said GTAI expert Robert Hermann on Wednesday to the news agency Reuters”.] (Der Spiegel, 2014-08-27).

“Позже представитель ритейлера Владимир Русанов заявил ИТАР-ТАСС, что “значительного роста цен от поставщиков в связи с санкциями пока нет”. [“Later, a representative of the retailer Vladimir Rusanov told ITAR-TASS that "there has not been any significant rise in prices from suppliers about sanctions yet”.] (TASS, 2014-08-18).

All things considered, it is evident that politicians and experts are main actors in Russian and European mass media, while “ordinary people” and farmers present their viewpoints on food embargo more frequently in British and Estonian mass media. German Der Spiegel due to lack of articles on food embargo show few “ordinary people” and farmers opinions. As for Russian mass media TASS, “ordinary people” and farmers don't have much place to express the views. From my point of view, that is because category “ordinary people” in many cases is used by Russian mass media in indirect way. Moreover, “ordinary people” and “farmers” are often marked as actors in articles on social events. And, as I have stated before, topics on social events in Russian mass media are mixed in most cases with topics on legislative changes and topics dedicated to farmers and enterprises concerns.

5. Mechanisms of social construction of food embargo in mass media of Russia and EU countries

Here I would like to look more deeply on the mechanisms which construct food embargo in each of the cases. A huge set of mechanisms could be used for such purposes: agenda-setting and framing, priming, construction of myths, use of language games and many others.

I will describe the list of mechanisms that are used for construction of the discourses on food embargo in the media discourses of Russia and EU countries. I will also study, how they are used and what are the major vivid subjects of construction. The use stylistic tools and rhetoric for politicization of food embargo; styles for food embargo presentation; specific stylistic tools, framing and putting specific myths about food embargo on the agenda; agenda-setting and framing in the construction of food embargo with relation to the construction of villains and victims and the opposition between Us-Them, are focus of my research.

5.1 Stylistic tools

A use of different types of stylistic tools in Russian and EU mass media affects the degree of politicization of discussions on food embargo. I have found evidences that supports this assumption in my analysis of the Russian, German, UK and Estonian mass media. Two features of the types of procedure lead to a higher politicization of food embargo discussion. The first one is lower legal requirements for the media. There could be biases in reporter coverage and usage of active conflict frames, insufficient provision of general context for the audience (differences in history, stakeholders, scientific analysis, etc.), lack of standards in media coverage, lack of technical proficiency of the reporters in the described matters. The second feature relates to broader opportunities for media to weaken political opponents, as it can speed up political decision making by creating urging discourses and providing more voices in support for policy. Media gradually become the major source of political information in a society and, therefore, increase people's potential of influencing and shaping their perceptions of political reality and political institution. This kind of moderating effect appears equally for all mass media under study.

Firstly, all mass media try to use real cases to illustrate their articles. In addition, citation as a storytelling strategy is widely applied for presenting the sensational issues to make stories more relatable. BBC, Postimees, Der Spiegel and TASS use personal citation to drive storytelling. Expert opinions, people's viewpoints, politicians claim often rely on statistics, researchers or personal experience.

“A regional agriculture official, Nikolai Borisov, said cheese prices had gone up by 10% and meat by 15% on Sakhalin. They were outstripped by the cost of chicken thighs, which rose by 60%” (BBC News, 2014-08-19).

“На самом деле это не две тонны сыра! Экспорт непереработанного молока в Россию упал на сорок процентов. Речь идет о 58 тоннах молока и молочной продукции», - парировала старейшина Ласнамяэ Мария Юферева…” [“In fact, it's not two tons of cheese! Export of unprocessed milk to Russia fell by forty percent. We are talking about 58 tons of milk and dairy products,” retorted Elder Lasnamae Maria Hufereva”] (Postimees, 2016-03-26).

“Die Situation ist schwierig", sagte Bauernprasident Joachim Rukwied <…> Vom Gewinneinbruch sind dem Bericht nach fast alle landwirtschaftlichen Bereiche betroffen: Die Ackerbauern mussten ein durchschnittliches Minus von 22 Prozent (rund 60.000 Euro) hinnehmen, Milchviehhalter kommen auf im Schnitt 44 Prozent weniger Gewinn (rund 38.800 Euro)”. [“The situation is difficult,” said farmer-president Joachim Rukwied. <…> According to the report, almost half of the agricultural sector is affected by the slump in profits: farmers have had an average decline of 22 per cent (about 60,000 euros), while dairy cattle farmers earn an average 44 per cent less profit (around 38,800 euros)”.] (Der Spiegel, 2015-12-08).

“Многие рестораторы затоварились импортным сырьем на полгода вперед, сообщил во вторник в пресс-центре ИТАР-ТАСС в Новосибирске управляющий крупной сети ресторанов Артур Ганагин. <…> “В день введения эмбарго практически все поставщики импортного сырья уведомили нас о повышении цен. На большинство импортных товаров цена в среднем поднялась примерно на 30%”. [“Many restaurateurs were overstocked with imported raw materials for half a year ahead, the manager of a large restaurant chain Arthur Ganagin said on Tuesday at the ITAR-TASS press center in Novosibirsk. <...> “The day the embargo was introduced all suppliers of imported raw materials informed us on the prices rise. The price on most imported goods had risen on almost 30%”] (TASS, 2014-08-19).

There is one big difference in the way stories on food embargo are represented by BBC, Postimees, Der Spiegel and TASS. TASS seems to use citation for representing public opinion as the opinion of the majority. It is very easy to trace direction of storytelling. It is very supportive for Russian policy regarding food embargo and there is almost no critic or opposition opinions. On contrary, Der Spiegel and Postimees are often publish in their articles ambivalent viewpoints (for example, in Postimees, 2014-08-12 and in Der Spiegel, 2014-09-20). According Ulrike Liebert and Hans-Jorg Trenz Liebert U., Trenz H-J., Europeanization of the mass media: normative assessment and empirical analysis. 2010, when European mass media publish information on political event, it forms European public identity. Simultaneously, when mass media are critical of the EU and its policy, they challenge the legitimacy of the EU political system and trigger Eurosceptic mobilization.

Meanwhile, BBC as well as TASS apply citations to support its policy and to influence public discourse by promoting positively biased coverage of legislative changes regarding food embargo: “UK Fisheries Minister George Eustice said: “We pledged support for our world-class mackerel industry following this unjustified ban and have been campaigning hard in Europe ever since. Today's success is a great example of industry and government working together to deliver swift, practical help and shows the UK's leadership in Europe” (BBC News, 2014-10-13).