Memories of the past conflicts are a major part of Russian foreign policy discourse. Scholarly literature highlighted the widespread use of Second World War references in Russian discourse during the Ukraine crisis. However, the use of historical memory in the context of Russia’s intervention in Syria remains underinvestigated. Applying securitisation theory, the paper analyses a set of political statements made by Russian pro-government and opposition politicians between 2015 and 2018. The analysis identifies several ways in which they integrate memory and security discourse. These include pro-Kremlin actors’ justifications of the intervention through references to the War on Terror and Chechen Wars; the anti-systemic opposition’s de-securitisation of the Syrian conflict by exposing manipulative uses of history; and the systemic opposition’s counter-securitisation of the intervention itself as an existential threat to Russia through references to the Soviet–Afghan war. The paper concludes by discussing the relationship between historical memory and security discourse.

中文翻译：

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俄罗斯对叙利亚干预的历史记忆和证券化

过去冲突的记忆是俄罗斯外交政策论述的重要组成部分。学术文献强调了第二次世界大战在乌克兰危机期间在俄罗斯话语中的引用。但是，在俄罗斯对叙利亚的干预中使用历史记忆的情况仍未得到充分调查。本文运用证券化理论，分析了俄罗斯亲政府和反对派政客在2015年至2018年之间发表的一系列政治声明。分析确定了他们整合记忆和安全话语的几种方式。这些包括亲克里姆林宫演员通过提及反恐战争和车臣战争的干预理由。反系统的反对派通过暴露对历史的操纵来解除对叙利亚冲突的安全化；以及系统性反对派通过提及苏俄战争对干预本身进行反证券化，将其作为对俄罗斯的生存威胁。本文最后讨论了历史记忆与安全话语之间的关系。