Thus, I can assume citation is a tool used by mass media to frame the general topic of food embargo in articles. Citations make presented issues to be perceived by audience as reliable, well-reputed news. Moreover, citations are used by mass media and policy-makers to influence upon public opinion. Expert, politicians, top-managers are important claim-makers, knowledge bearers that use statistical, historical, economic data to form the political agenda-setting. It is not a surprising fact that the experts' points of view are often used as a powerful tool of forming the political and social agenda and constructing the social reality or approving country's policy.

If we try to determine dominant rhetoric in the articles on food embargo in all mass media under study, rhetoric of loss and rhetoric of endangerment will be the most used. Rhetoric of loss is often applied in relation to the topic on farming and enterprises, which have suffered from food embargo. British, Estonian and German mass media often present information of certain risks: products lose value, prices fall, oversupply on markets and emerging needs to protect food industry by government as it cannot protect itself.

“The EU has announced emergency help for dairy producers hit by the Russian ban on food imports from the EU.” (BBC News, 2014-08-28).

“Banks and retail chains ready to extend helping hands towards Estonian farmers and food producers plagued by Russian sanctions.” (Postimees, 2014-08-13).

“Europaische Gemusebauern, die aufgrund der Sanktionen auf ihren Erzeugnissen sitzen bleiben, konnen fur Ausfalle mit EU-Hilfen in Hohe von 125 Millionen Euro rechnen”. [“European vegetable growers, who remain seated on their products due to the sanctions, can expect EU aid of € 125 million for failures.”] (Der Spiegel, 2014-08-19).

Russian mass media also use rhetoric of loss while speaking on farming and enterprises losses. TASS uses rhetoric of loss also to show European farming and enterprises hardships.

“Особенно сильно от российского эмбарго пострадают финские фермеры, которые специализируются на поставке молочной продукции в Россию. <…> В этой связи Финляндия намерена добиваться компенсаций от Брюсселя”. [“Finnish farmers, who specialize in the supply of dairy products to Russia, will suffer especially strongly from the Russian embargo. <…> In this regard, Finland intends to seek compensation from Brussels] (TASS, 2014-08-25).

I assume that Russian mass media uses rhetoric of loss while speaking about European problems in food industry to shift the attention focus from own problems. Moreover, when TASS publishes articles on Russian food industry, it mostly speaks in a very positive and persuasive manner: “Мы сегодня стараемся переориентировать наше развитие на импортозамещающие технологии, а это не значит, что мы отказываемся от достижений цивилизации; просто многие вещи мы действительно реально можем делать у себя и не худшего качества”, - сказал премьер-министр на встрече с врио губернатора Курской области Александром Михайловым”. [“Today we are trying to reorient our development to import-substituting technologies, and this does not mean that we renounce the achievements of civilization; Just many things we really can produce at home and not of worse quality,” the Prime Minister said at a meeting with the provisional Governor of the Kursk region Alexander Mikhailov”] (TASS, 2014-08-22). It creates competition of discourses: “negative experience in European countries” vs. “positive experience in Russia” due to introduction of food embargo. From my point of view, Russian political actors use mass media as communication arena for approval of food embargo in Russia and are trying to show their policy from the adventurous position.

As for rhetoric of endangerment, it often goes together with rhetoric of loss in all mass media. In a number of articles terms belonging to rhetoric of endangerment are applied: danger, fear, worry, damage, destroy, war. European mass media sees the main danger in Russian foreign policy related to Ukraine crises that lead to food embargo as a respond to European sanctions.

However, there are certain differences in how the cause of danger is depicted by BBC, Der Spiegel and Postimees. Those differences are grounded in the Soviet background of Russia and Estonia. Common historical background has enormous influence on the current political development of the former republics. The historic processes led to a deeply controversial public debate on policy, in particular, on current Russian food policy. Thus, Postimees uses rhetoric of endangerment more often than BBC and Der Spiegel as well as literary tools, which appeal to readers on emotional level. Thus, the rhetoric of endangerment expresses conditions that threaten safety of country' s independence.

“Если мы сейчас не умерим политические и территориальные аппетиты российской политической элиты, которая не всегда ориентируется на цели своего народа, то скоро мы вообще не будем продавать ни сыр, ни кильку, ни колбаски! Если в нашем регионе возникнет политическая нестабильность, столкновения, серьезные проблемы на эстонско-российской границе, нам будет совсем не до сыра!” [“If we do not now moderate the political and territorial appetites of the Russian political elite, then we will not sell any cheese, sprat or sausages at all! If political instability emerges in our region, serious problems on the Estonian-Russian border will arise, we will not be thinking on selling cheese!”] (Postimees, 2016-03-28).

On the other hand, Postimees prefers not to publish only one-sided opinions. For example, Postimees published analysis of the head of the one-man firm called the Baltic Center of Russian Studies, Vladimir Juskin, on potential developments in Russia. Vladimir Juskin is trying to refute dangers made by Estoniagn mass media:

“Our national television is “making jokes” about survival packages lately: how many cans of food and batteries one needs to survive a crisis situation. How real is the danger in your mind, and should we be stockpiling canned food? <…> Will we be neighbors to the great North Korea soon?” (Postimees, 2016-11-07).

For disproval of dangers, he uses irony, metaphors, interplays with values and norms, brings examples that ridicules those treats. Moreover, Vladimir Juskin insists Russia is full of own problems and has emerging economic and social crises. Meanwhile, he does not deny potential military invasion to the Baltic countries by Russian army. Again, we have ambivalent opinions that creates clash of discourses: “Russian policy that threaten Estonian safety” and “Russian policy stuck with domestic problems”.

BBC and Der Spiegel use rhetoric of endangerment to show how sanctions threaten prosperity of countries: inflation, dismissals, poverty, hunger are seen as the main dangers.

“On Russian social networks, there are already plenty of pictures showing empty shelves in Moscow supermarkets, where foreign varieties of cheese or yoghurt used to be abundant.” (BBC, 2014-08-20).

“Die wirtschaftliche Lage der Betriebe bleibe angespannt. Bei den Investitionen sei nochmals ein deutlicher Ruckgang zu erwarten, sagte der Bauernprasident.”

[“The economic situation of the enterprises remains tense. Regarding investments, a further significant decline is to be expected, said the farmer president.”] (Der Spiegel, 2015-12-08).

Moreover, as for the background to food embargo often discussed issues on Ukraine crises and Russian policy toward it, Russian aggression is also considered as danger: “NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Ukraine's freedom and future were "under attack," promising support against Russian “aggression.” (BBC News, 2014-08-07).

TASS uses rhetoric of endangerment while describing consequences of food embargo, mainly in European countries:

“Tревогу забили греческие экспортеры овощей и фруктов, которые будут добиваться компенсаций от ЕС. По их оценкам, российское эмбарго ставит крест на урожае овощей и фруктов этого года. <…> Австрийская Der Standard считает, что ответные санкции России угрожают всем производителям продовольствия в Евросоюзе. <…> Премьер-министр Финляндии Александер Стубб заявил, что срыв экспортных поставок может спровоцировать экономический кризис.”[“The Greek exporters of fruits and vegetables alarmed, who will seek compensation from the EU. According to their estimates, the Russian embargo puts an end to the harvest of vegetables and fruits this year. <...> Austrian Der Standard believes that Russian retaliatory sanctions threaten all food producers in the European Union. <...> Prime Minister of Finland Alexander Stubb said that the disruption of export supplies could provoke an economic crisis.”] (TASS, 2014-08-07).

Description of dangers for European countries prevails over description of threats for Russia caused by food embargo in the Russian media. It seems that TASS uses tactics to distract people's attention from the domestic problems by presenting conflict perspectives abroad. This shows how construction of food embargo and its presentation can differ depending on the actors' positions in political discourse and their interests. And as I have mentioned before, the topic of food embargo is highly politicized and almost every analyzed article in Russian mass media present politicians and policy-makers' opinions and claims. Thus, TASS can be considered as a mass media that is used by Russian politicians to access public opinion formation.

Rhetoric is one of the elements of language games. Rhetoric uses symbols and motifs to create an atmosphere, where the audience feel an urge to act. For example, the articles on promoting eating Polish apples (BBC, 2014-07-31), led to a flash mob, where people were posting photos with apples through the Internet and discussing the issue (Forum of Der Spiegel “Apfel gegen Putin: “Sie sollten essen, ich sollte essen, wir sollten essen.” [“Apples against Putin: “You should eat, I should eat, we should eat.”])

5.2 Presentation styles

In my research, I have identified styles of claim-making and presentation of food embargo using categories proposed by Ibbara and Kitsuse Ibarra P.R., Kitsuse, J. I. Claims-making Discourse and Vernacular Resources. 2003 (civic style, legalistic style, scientific style, political style, comic style, theatrical style and subcultural style). All mass media under study in most cases use legalistic style and scientific style of claim-making. As food embargo is a political issue, there are a lot of references to law and rationality.

“Last month the EU and US tightened sanctions on Russia, with Brussels applying restrictions to key sectors of the economy as well as individuals. The first round of sanctions came after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea region in March. President Vladimir Putin announced on Wednesday that Russia would take retaliatory sanctions, saying they would last for a year. They take effect immediately”. (BBC News, 2014-08-07).

“As announced yesterday by agriculture minister Ivari Padar, he will within days enter negotiations with banks and retail chains for these to ease business conditions for Estonian producers suffering under the Russian import ban”. (Postimees, 2014-08-13).

“Am Mittwoch hatte der russische Prasident Wladimir Putin dann Importbeschrankungen fur Nahrungsmittel aus Landern verkundet, die im Ukraine-Konflikt Sanktionen gegen Russland verhangt haben”. [“On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced import restrictions on food from countries that imposed sanctions against Russia in the Ukraine conflict”]. (Der Spiegel, 2014-08-07).

“7 августа стало известно, что правительство РФ ввело полный запрет на поставки говядины, свинины, мяса птицы, рыбы, сыров, молока и плодоовощной продукции из Австралии, Канады, ЕС, США и Норвегии. Об этом говорится в подписанном во вторник премьер-министром Дмитрием Медведевым постановлении кабмина. Документ вступает в силу с 7 августа”. [“On august 7, the government of the Russian Federation introduced a complete ban on the supply of beef, pork, poultry, fish, cheese, milk and fruits and vegetables from Australia, Canada, the EU, the USA and Norway. This is stated in the decree signed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday. The document comes into force on August 7”]. (TASS, 2014-08-07).

Moreover, to prove the existence of the problems that were caused by food embargo introduction and to form desired mass opinion all media use statistics or refer to researches, that is characteristics of scientific style.

“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).

“Прирост сельхозпроизводства в 2014 году составил 3,5%, а пищевой промышленности - на 2,5%. Таким образом, за год действия эмбарго произошел не прирост, а сокращение темпов в агросекторе”. [“The increase in agricultural production in 2014 was 3.5%, and the food industry - 2.5%. Thus, during the year of the embargo, there was no growth, but a reduction of the pace in the agricultural sector”.] (Postimees, 2016-03-02).

“Von den EU- und US-Sanktionen gegen Russland fuhlen sich demnach 64 Prozent der Befragten nicht personlich betroffen. 25 Prozent der Umfrageteilnehmer sind indes beunruhigt, 38 Prozent sehen in den westlichen Strafma?nahmen eine Gefahr fur die russische Wirtschaft. An der reprasentativen Befragung nahmen den Angaben zufolge Anfang August 1600 Menschen teil”. [“On the EU and US sanctions against Russia, 64 per cent of respondents do not feel personally affected. However, 25 per cent of the survey participants are concerned, while 38 per cent see the Western economy as a threat to the Russian economy. According to the representative survey, 1,600 people participated in early August.”] (Der Spiegel, 2015-08-08).

“По данным ФТС России, крупнейшими экспортерами цельномолочной продукции по итогам 2013 года стали Финляндия (17,8 тыс. тонн на сумму $19,6 млн), Эстония (8,3 тыс. тонн на $19,4 млн), Польша (3,8 тыс. тонн на $8 млн) и Литва (3 тыс. тонн на $7,3 млн).” [“According to the Federal Customs Service of Russia, the largest exporters of whole-milk products in 2013 became Finland (17.8 thousand tons worth $ 19.6 million), Estonia (8.3 thousand tons at $ 19.4 million), Poland (3.8 thousand tons) Thousand tons for $ 8 million) and Lithuania (3 thousand tons for $ 7.3 million).”] (TASS, 2014-08-06). There is also civic style, that is often used by mass media. Following Ibbara and Kitsuse, civic style was used mostly to portray the claims made on behalf of the “people”. There are claims made of outrage or moral indignation, that creates impression of naturalness, spontaneity of lack of organization.

“Tens of thousands of people have joined a protest petition to President Vladimir Putin. <…> Reporters hailed a crackdown on contraband, but many Russians are deeply disturbed by the development/” (BBC News, 2015-08-07).

“The corrupt kept building palaces, but there was always something left over for the ordinary Russians - a life a bit better, and the hope of buying a new fridge. Now, all they have is the propaganda.” (Postimees, 2015-08-21).

“Als die Verkauferin vom neuen Einfuhrverbot erfahrt, blickt sie auf ihre Theke, kratzt sich am Kopf und kommt zu dem Schluss: "Das ist schlecht. Bald wird es hier ziemlich leer sein.” [“When the saleswoman learns of the new ban on imports, she looks at her counter, scratches her head and concludes, “This is bad. Soon it will be empty.”] (Der Spiegel, 2014-08-07).

“Ажиотажный спрос практически опустошил склады крупных поставщиков импортного сырья в Новосибирске.” [“The rush demand practically drained warehouses of large suppliers of imported raw materials in Novosibirsk.”] (TASS, 2014-08-19).

Sarcastic tone and comic style are also used to portray the Russian reality, changed by food embargo, by British and Estonian mass media. Exaggeration and irony are the key features of those texts. Negative attitudes towards Russian policy are expressed in different ways:

“Pensioners in a Russian city will be offered free bread every week <…> There was some support for the idea on Russian social media, with one person tweeting that it was “good thing to do”. Others were skeptical, however. “When will this country stop humiliating its people? Never,” says a popular satirical Twitter commentator. Another user dryly remarked: “I wanted to spend my sunset years in Costa Rica but Tomsk has clearly become a cooler option.” (BBC News, 2015-03-06).

“Meanwhile, a KGB guy knows not how to develop nanotechnology, or even make cheese. These would have to be the domain of those who have learned their lesson well: why bother - to be confiscated anyway.” (Postimees, 2015-08-21).

Der Spiegel prefers not to use comic style in its articles. It stays formal in the discussions on food embargo and more appeals to international legal documents and authorities' responsibility for protecting European interests. TASS also don't use comic style. In the discussions on food embargo it mostly refers to rationality and practicability of the Russian policy regarding food embargo.

While a food embargo issue is highly politicized in the international society, political style has become one of the promising tools in supporting the claim-makers who were affected by this law. BBC News, Postimees, Der Spiegel and TASS often publish official claims of politicians and policy-makers in their articles. Mass media describe political agendas formed by different political actors, who, following ideas of social constructivism, believe they could construct reality by publishing reasoning to the whole sanction policy and its consequences.

The mixture of different styles is also one of the discursive strategies used in the selected mass media to present the situation in connection to food embargo introduction as a burning problem. Consequently, civic style is used to appeal to the people who experienced the threat of losing their freedoms and money. Legalistic, scientific and political styles seemed to be an effective mean of legitimatizing and rationalizing one of positions in contemporary debates over food embargo. Widely used by BBC and Postimees comic style, exaggeration and metaphors (for example, the comparison of the Russian authorities with “an actress in a second-rate variety show” and results of Russian policy with a “nightmarish scenario” (BBC News, 2015-08-07)) served as promising tools in depicting the social reality, unfavorable for the Russian policy.

5.3 Construction of victims and villains and the opposition between Us-Them

The authors of the articles of the European mass media (mostly in British and Estonian media), where civic style is used, speak on the behalf of “people”. “People” are occasionally described as the victim group which suffers from negative consequences of food embargo. In this case, the category of “victims” came into my focus. This concept was often accompanied in the texts by the words: angry, under attack, challenge, extremely concerned, serious problems, losses. In combination with rhetoric of loss, which is served for describing the risks caused by food embargo, and rhetoric of endangerment, introduced for describing threats to safety and prosperity of countries, those words could be regarded as an indicator of negative attitude towards introduction of food embargo by Russia.

Moreover, the category of “victims” in those articles often includes the following actors: ordinary people, pensioners, farmers, fishermen, dairy producers, people, fruit growers, cheese makers. Presenting the category in such way helps the audience to empathize with the victims and see them not as the “other”. This is happening because of distant reduction between article readers and “victims”, who could appear to be a part of the audience of the mass media. This situation, along with presenting food embargo as a sensational issue with a high possibility for dramatic events, helps to achieve the aim of the mass media: sensational and realistic event draw more attention, allowing the media to expand its audience.

Meanwhile, “villains” in European mass media are mostly associated with Russian policy-makers and their supporters. They are often described with the words: pro-Putin, pro-Russian, pro-Kremlin, strongly supportive, pro-government. Furthermore, the “villains” actions are presented as: unjustified, tit-for-tat, humiliating, aggressive.

Thus, “ordinary” people having “serious problems” due to food embargo are opposed to “unjustified” policy of “pro-Russians”. The metaphor of “like an actress in a second-rate variety show” and introduction of “victims” (farmers) struggles emphasize the significance of the issue and ridicule Russian policy as completely ineffective instrument of international relationship.

This way of “villain” construction can be interpreted as a desire of actors of European mass media to escape form possible Russian influence and to strengthen nation identity building, by applying motifs of immoral or grossly unfair behavior of Russian policy-makers. Actors, who use in their narratives categories of “victims” and “villains” in fact build an opposition between Us-Them, while endowing food embargo with negative connotations. In fact, the image of food embargo is constructed as a boundary between Russia and other European countries. British and Estonian mass media describe Russian policy as the one discriminating European society and pursuing own goals: “Be it bans on Georgian wine, Polish apples, Lithuanian milk, or EU cheese, Russia's food import policies and "safety" concerns often seem to align with its wider foreign policy goals.” (BBC News, 2015-11-26).

“В ответ Мария Юферева поинтересовалась: “Неужели вы думаете, что если ЕС и США будут постоянно закручивать гайки в отношении России, то она сломается?” “Она не должна ломаться, но должна вести себя адекватно! - подчеркнул Метлев. - Это должна быть дискуссия равных! Мы не должны ради сыра и колбасок отказываться от своих ценностей!” [“In response, Maria Yuferova asked: “Do you really think, that if the EU and the US will harden their relationship with Russia, it will give up?” “It should not give up, but it must behave adequately! - said Metlev. - It should be a discussion of equals! We should not abandon our values for the sake of cheese and sausages!”] (Postimees, 2016-03-22).

In addition, in Estonian case the identity building is a big issue because of its Soviet background and significant amount of Russian-speaking population in Estonia. As Postimees publishes its articles in three languages: English, Estonian and Russian, there is division in audience for those publications. Articles in English are intended for the international audience. Meanwhile, article in Estonian and Russian are - for domestic audience. Considering the language being used as a tool in constructing national identity, Estonian mass media creates for Russian-speaking population reality, where it is dictated, what to think about Russian policy and cause negative emotional response and awareness of food embargo. Thus, construction of opposition between Us (Estonian, European) and They (Russian) have become a tool for Estonian policymaking.

On the contrary, Der Spiegel seems to take effort to minimize an effect from construction of opposition between Us (European) and Them (Russian).

“Einerseits spricht sich der CSU-Politiker fur Verhandlungen mit Russland uber eine Wiederoffnung des Lebensmittelmarktes fur europaische Produkte aus: "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 Ein Signal uber den Agrarmarkt hinaus sei wichtig, damit man nicht zu "kalten Zeiten", sondern zu einer vernunftigen Zusammenarbeit zuruckkehre.” [“On the one hand, the CSU politician advocates negotiations with Russia on a reopening of the food market for European products: “I strongly recommend that we use the WTO negotiations with Russia on the opening of the pigmeat market, so that we have gradually approached an opening of the food market to Russia,” said Schmidt in Brussels. A signal on the agricultural market is important in order not to return to “cold times” but to a reasonable cooperation.”] (Der Spiegel, 2016-02-15).

Once again, German mass media follows rationality in its publications and try not to be prejudged.

In the Russian discourse, the “other” is presented in the context of the country itself. This could be understood from the articles with such headings as “ЕС готов добиваться через ВТО отмены запретов России на импорт продовольствия” [“The EU is ready to seek, through the WTO, the lifting of Russia's ban on food imports”] (TASS, 2014-08-07), “Президент Литвы: эмбарго РФ больнее всего ударит по молочной отрасли и грузоперевозкам” [“The President of Lithuania: the embargo of the Russian Federation will hit hardest on the dairy industry and cargo transportation”] (TASS, 2014-08-07), “Подпавшие под санкции РФ страны переориентируются на рынки Азии и Карибский регион” [“Countries under the sanctions of the Russian Federation are reoriented to the markets of Asia and the Caribbean region”] (TASS, 2014-08-07), “Итальянские производители пармской ветчины признали, что санкции РФ станут для них ударом” [“Italian producers of Parma ham admitted that Russia's sanctions would be a blow to them”] (TASS, 2014-08-07) to be on the agenda. These articles are illustrated with “victim” description, who appear to be the same as in European mass media.

“Villains” are also constructed by TASS by using citations from European mass media. Thus, similar words are used: political motivated, irresponsible, tensions, threaten and others. This prove once again the idea, that Russian mass media try to distance its audience from problems connecting to food embargo on domestic arena by focusing on problems occurring in foreign countries.

5.4 Construction of myths on food embargo

Another major point of my analysis in the construction of discourses on food embargo is construction of myths on food embargo. Those myths can be divided onto two groups. First one is related to the Soviet social reality characterized by the food shortage. Articles are sometimes provided with pictures of empty shelves (BBC News, 2014-08-20) and narratives on “the Soviet times” with illegal food selling and hunger:

“A Soviet-era word - “spekulyanty” - is being used again. It means black market speculators. Smuggled Western goods were sold at inflated prices in the Soviet Union, where many basic foods and other goods were in short supply. Some liberal economists in Russia warn that if the state tries to regulate food prices again then the country could face real shortages reminiscent of Soviet times.” (BBC News, 2014-08-20).

“As the poverty increases, food coupons are the serious talk of the day, and some go as far as to predict hunger, the authorities react in ways pointing back to communist era and - truth be told - before the latter ever came to power.” (Postimees, 2015-08-21).

“Als die Verkauferin vom neuen Einfuhrverbot erfahrt, blickt sie auf ihre Theke, kratzt sich am Kopf und kommt zu dem Schluss: “Das ist schlecht. Bald wird es hier ziemlich leer sein.” [“When the saleswoman learns about the new import ban, she looks at her counter, scratches her head, and concludes, “This is bad. Soon it will be quite empty.”] (Der Spiegel, 2014-08-07).

Other group is connected to economic consequences of food embargo:

“Looks like Putin's sanctions will destroy countries in Eastern Europe,” pro-Kremlin journalist Yury Yakor tweets.” (BBC News, 2014-08-07).

On the other hand, Russian mass media contest myth on “empty shelves from Soviet times”:

“Впрочем, все опрошенные ИТАР-ТАСС крупные федеральные ритейлеры заявили, что пустых полок в их магазинах нет и, как ожидается, не будет.” [“However, all large federal retailers interviewed by ITAR-TASS said that there were no empty shelves in their stores and, as was expected, there would not be.”] (TASS, 2014-08-18) and do not comment on the other myth.

European mass media often adds those myths in the narrative while illustrating “villains” and “victims”. Myths are usually used to speculate picture presented by mass media. Operating with categories that address readers' feelings, mass media manipulate people's perception of image and consequences of food embargo.

6. Interaction of various discourses that construct the image of food embargo

Following previous analysis, construction of discourses on food embargo differ in Russian, British, Estonian and German media discourses. Moreover, the competition of opposing discourses within single media was found. It happens when actors transmit and impose their competing estimations and concerns on Russian food embargo through mass media. For answering, how discourses of food embargo are interconnected with other discourses in media, and how political context affect construction of discourses on food embargo in media, an analysis of background discourses describing a background to food embargo is essential.

Competition of discourses on food embargo between Russian, British, Estonian and German media concerns the struggle between political interests on the global arena. The most remarkable example of this struggle could be traced in the background discussion concerning the Ukraine crises in the articles dedicated to food embargo. BBC presentation of the topic maintains discourses on “the illegal annexation of Crimea” (BBC News, 2015-08-07), “accusation of Russia of arming separatists in eastern Ukraine” (BBC News, 2015-07-30), “Ukraine's freedom and future “under attack” by Russian “aggression” and “Pro-Russian separatists” (BBC News, 2014-08-07), “Russia's obligation to take steps to de-escalate the conflict in East Ukraine” (BBC News, 2014-08-07). It is vivid, that British media appeals to violation of international rights and freedom by Russia and features the idea that Ukraine freedom should not be restricted by the Russian actions on Ukraine territory.

Postimees bring in discourses on “the successful strategic-hybrid operation in Crimea” and “psychological pressure on Russia's military leadership that might be planning and could execute such an operation”, “support of the self-proclaimed so-called Russian opposition leaders in Ukraine”, “keeping to the Minsk agreements” (Postimees, 2016-11-07), “Moscow's goal to force Brussels to waive measures imposed on Russia due to its actions against Ukraine, by targeting EU's sensitive agricultural sector” (Postimees, 2015-08-10), “Russian covert aggression in the border region” (Postimees, 2014-08-08), “the war in Ukraine cannot be achieved without the direct support of the separatists of the Russian army”(Postimees, 2016-03-28). Those discourses appeal to the rhetoric of endangerment and furthers the BBC's idea that Russia threaten freedom and independence of countries.

Der Spiegel introduces discourses on “Ukraine conflict in relation to Russian policy” (Der Spiegel, 2014-08-07), “mediation between Russia and Ukraine” (Der Spiegel, 2014-08-19), “A creeping invasion in the Eastern Ukraine by Vladimir Putin” (Der Spiegel, 2014-08-29), “The EU must show Russia “that some of the most recent behaviors in 21st century Europe are simply unacceptable,” and “The battles in the Eastern Ukraine are an external political crisis” (Der Spiegel, 2014-08-29). Thus, Germany plays a role of mediator and takes responsibility for regulation international conflicts. If UK and Estonian media deliver the idea of “threat to freedom”, Germany produces discourses on its important role in conflict de-escalation.

There are few actors who support such construction of sub-discourse of the Ukraine crises. The articles and the previous conducted inquiry into the legal aspects of EU sanctions against Russia over Ukraine crisis show that discourse on protection of rights and freedom is one that is institutionalized in European Union's laws. It is incorporated in the law, promoted by politicians and nowadays contested. Among those, who support discourses on “treat to freedom from Russia” are politicians (for example, “Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Ukraine's freedom and future were "under attack," promising support against Russian “aggression” (BBC News, 2014-08-07)), countries' governments (“The Scottish government said: "The Scottish government has made our concerns about the situation in Ukraine clear and we fully support EU sanctions against Russia” (BBC News, 2014-08-07)), scientists (for example, “Head of the one-man firm called the Baltic Center of Russian Studies, Vladimir Juskin: “Why do I think Putin will not start a war with NATO? Because he is not an army officer; he lacks that particular mentality. He is a special services operative at heart; his way is to make preparations to act covertly and unexpectedly when the time is right - as was done in Crimea. Such an operation remains a possibility.” (Postimees, 2016-11-26)).

Der Spiegel, while creating discourses on “Germany's mediator role”, publish opinions of politicians as well. For example, “Ein Krisentreffen, bei dem Bundesau?enminister Frank-Walter Steinmeier eine Vermittlung zwischen Russland und der Ukraine versucht hatte, war am Montagmorgen gescheitert. “Wir sind weit weg von einer politischen Losung”, sagte der SPD-Politiker. Es bestehe die Gefahr, “dass wir immer weiter hineinschlittern in eine Konfrontation zwischen russischen und ukrainischen Streitkraftenp. [“A crisis meeting, during which Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier had tried to mediate between Russia and Ukraine, had failed on Monday morning. "We are far from a political solution," said the SPD politician. “There is a danger that we will continue to sneak into a confrontation between Russian and Ukrainian forces.”] (Der Spiegel, 2014-08-19).

Meanwhile, TASS prefer to highlight the extension of Ukraine crises in its articles as a fault of policy of international organization:

“В комментариях читателей немецких СМИ отмечается, что правительство ФРГ, НАТО и США подрывают своей некомпетентной политикой экономические отношения с Россией, увеличивают безработицу, разбазаривают деньги налогоплательщиков и подливают огонь в конфликт на Украине.” [“In the comments of readers of the German media, it is noted that the government of the Federal Republic of Germany, NATO and the US undermine their economic policy with Russia by their incompetent policies, increase unemployment, squander taxpayers' money and fuel the conflict in Ukraine.”] (TASS, 2014-08-07).

It seems, Russian discourse on Ukraine crises fight those in Germany, UK and Estonia. TASS creates the discourse of “International unsound policy regarding Ukraine crises” to support Russian policy regarding food embargo and to justify it in people's eyes. Moreover, many governmental bodies in Russia and politicians support this kind of logic in their opinion presentation in mass media. For example, Minister of Agriculture Nikolay Fedorov in his interview to TASS said:

“В моем понимании ужесточение ситуации вокруг России - это дополнительный стимул для широкого круга инвесторов к вхождению в аграрный сектор. Не было бы санкций - не было бы антисанкций. Так что Запад, по сути, вынудил нас встать на такие рельсы, дав дополнительный стимул к развитию.” ["To my mind, the tightening of the situation around Russia is an additional incentive for a wide range of investors to enter the agricultural sector. If there were not any sanctions - there would not be any anti-sanctions. So, the West, in fact, forced us to follow that path, giving an additional push to development.”] (TASS, 2014-12-15)

Thus, political context influence very much on the discussions on food embargo going on in mass media under study. Furthermore, discourses on Ukraine crises as political background to Russian food embargo is close connected to discourses on food embargo in Russian and European media. Firstly, description of dangers for European countries prevails over description of threats for Russia caused by food embargo in the Russian media, as I stated before, that is similar to the fact that description of dangers of Russian “aggression” in European media is in the center of focus. While, Russian media do no pay much attention to the discussion of its role in Ukraine crises in articles dedicated to food embargo. Secondly, in introducing sub-discourses on Ukraine crises in European media the tool of “villain” construction was also used. And connotation of a boundary between Russia and other European countries is one more time used in the agenda building.

I have already found the competition of opposing discourses within single media in my analysis of the degree of politicization. Those are: ambivalent opinions that creates clash of discourses in Estonian media: “Russian policy that threaten Estonian safety” and “Russian policy stuck with domestic problems”; competition of discourses in Russian media: “negative experience in European countries” vs. “positive experience in Russia” due to introduction of food embargo; ambivalent viewpoints on food embargo in German and Estonian media, that, from one hand, forms European public identity and, on the other hand, challenge the legitimacy of the EU political system and trigger Eurosceptic mobilization.

All things considered it is possible to say that Russian and European mass media serve as an arena on discussions concerning food embargo and, especially, it's political connotations. However, the analysis shows that media present different, often contradicting views from various actors. It could be claimed, that European and Russian media are alike in heterogeneity of discourses that construct the image of food embargo.

7. Limitations to the research

It is necessary to understand that the study aim to understand how the discourses on food embargo are constructed in each country and not whether such construction is true or false, accurate of inaccurate, consistent with reality or not.

Furthermore, the analysis is limited by the language. English language of articles produced by non-English speaking countries might not capture many cultural specificities that could be covered in the mother tongue. On top of that, articles distributed in English are aimed at a broader, international audience and involve strategies of self-representation on international arena.

Conclusion

In this chapter an overview of legal, historical, social and cultural aspects of sanctions employment were introduced, which partly explain the differences in findings concerning construction of the discourse on food embargo, implemented by Russia in 2014, by the media in countries under study.

In this chapter, the structure of the media discourse on food embargo was analyzed. The main actors and topics in each of the courtiers' discourse were outlined, which showed the construction of the discourses on food embargo is highly politicized. And highlight of political issues overweight presentation of economic and social problems.

Next, mechanisms of construction of the discourses on food embargo were analyzed and features of the use of rhetoric, language games, agenda-setting and framing were described in each case. As result, it became evident that construction of the discourses on food embargo differs in each case in terms of degree of politicization, how the construction of the discourses on food embargo contributes to the ambivalence of discourses and division to “victims” and “villains”, “Us” and “Them”, ant the way construction of myths on food embargo are allocated in the discourse.

Besides, the interaction of various background-discourses in the construction of the discourses on food embargo was introduces. The competing discourses of Ukraine crises between mass media, and clash of discourses within one media coverage were traced. The influence of political and historical background is visible in the set of themes that are repeated in episodes of construction of the discourses on food embargo.

General conclusions

Media is one of the major channels of discourse construction. Through multiply mechanisms of agenda-setting, framing, priming, language games it constructs sicourses on of food embargo. Mass media present various myths on food embargo, introduce it as a pressing problem, that influence on political, economic and social life. In the media discourse, various discourses compete for authority over the construction of the image of food embargo.

The aim of the study was to inquire into how food embargo is constructed in the mass media of Russia, UK, Germany and Estonia. For that purpose, firstly a presentation of historical and socio-cultural overview on sanction policy introduction on the international arena was done. I have demonstrated, that economic sanctions were increasingly used as instruments of foreign policy from the beginning of 19th century. With the introduction of United Nation Oganization, economic sanction became constantly use instrument of foreign policy. At the same time, with the post-World War transformations in the economy and social structure, critics on the sanction policy emerged, since international organizations had not developed any standards and regulations in sanction application.

By escalating the crisis in Ukraine, which emerged on November 2013, political changes affected international system, which is important to consider since legal framework embodies institutionalized, dominant views on food embargo. Political changes generated plenty of new legislative initiatives that influence whole international community. Discourses on food embargo, actors who produce them, and relationship between them were affected by those changes.

The centerpiece of the research is related to the discourse analysis of articles in Russian, British, German and Estonian media. It is aimed at identifying the mechanisms and features of construction of the discourses on food embargo. The first major finding maintains that food embargo is extremely politicized topic. This is evident in the actors, who have the “right” to speak in the media discourse. Most of them are politicians and policy-makers. Representatives of private organizations, category of “ordinary people” and farmers, along with experts in general follow in their opinions the policy that would benefit their interests. Though, discourses in Russia are more supportive for Russian policy regarding food embargo, as there is almost no critic or opposition opinions. On contrary, German and Estonian media are often publish in their articles ambivalent viewpoints. The UK's media as well as Russian support their policies and influence public discourse by promoting positively biased coverage of legislative changes regarding food embargo.

Moreover, the stylistic and rhetoric tools also contribute to politicization of discussions on food embargo. The prevalence of rhetoric of endangerment and rhetoric of loss is a way to frame reports on consequences of food embargo. Media of all countries under study use statistical data and expert opinions appealing to the growing number of economic losses of European market. Though, the purpose of that is differ for Russian and European media. It was shown that Russian mass media uses rhetoric of loss and rhetoric of endangerment while speaking about European problems in food industry to shift the attention focus from own problems. While, European media use similar rhetoric to show how sanctions threaten prosperity of a country or its freedom. This coupled with the use of emotionally loaded language to install fear in the readers and potentially leads to panic.

Another major finding is concerned with the construction of “victims” and “villains” and the opposition between “Us-Them”. When presenting the consequences of the food embargo, media of European countries under study often speak on people's behalf and use rhetoric of loss. The “villains” in European mass media are mostly associated with Russian policy-makers and their supporters. This way of “villain” construction can be interpreted as a desire of actors of European mass media to escape form possible Russian influence and to strengthen nation identity building. Mechanisms of construction of opposition between “victim” and “villains” and “Us-Them” are used by European media to build a boundary between European community and Russia. Though, there is one exception - German case. German media try to be more cool-headed and not to be prejudged, which could be explained by it which to take mediator role in the Russian-EU tensions.

Next major finding of my analysis is connected to the construction of myths on food embargo. European mass media often adds myths on food embargo in the narrative while illustrating “villains” and “victims”. Myths are usually used to speculate picture presented by mass media.

Final finding that has been heightened in the current research is concerned interaction of various discourses. Construction of discourses on food embargo differ in Russian, British, Estonian and German media discourses due to political background of food embargo related to Ukraine crises. Moreover, the competition of opposing discourses within single media was found. It happens when actors transmit and impose their competing estimations and concerns on Russian food embargo through mass media.

My hypothesis, that the amount of country's food export to Russia could influence on the frequency of discussion, on the selection of topics, on the mechanisms of the information presentation was not proved. There was not discovered any supportive argument to that assumption.

All in all, in this research various mechanisms of construction of the discurse on food embargo were identified and the characteristic of their use in each case was described. Moreover, an inquiry into the power relation between sub-discourses presented in Russian and European media showed that media is very heterogeneous. Additionally, historical background is evident for the Estonian case in how the discourses on food embargo are constructed. Common mechanisms of discourse building on food embargo for all mass media are also evident (e.g. rhetoric of loss, rhetoric of endangerment, legalistic and scientific styles) and can be attributed to the general purpose of mass media - to attract more readers.

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