By 2015, however, the initial authorities had faded, and the network was dominated by groups and content much more focused on the and of the conflict. These included ‘here now’ groups like (see Figure 10), whose symbolism draws together emblems of ‘Russians Online’ both Russia and the Donetsk Republic, and (see Figure 11), providing People’s ‘News Front’ reporting from the front lines. Insert Figures 10, 11 here. Discussion The Russian annexation of Crimea was popular, but it was not a popular movement. Grievance over the loss of Crimea to an independent post-Soviet Ukraine had always been present in Russian public opinion and had occasionally motivated nationalist-minded politicians such as Vladimir Zhirinovsky or Yury Luzhkov, without ever becoming an official plank of Russian foreign policy under Boris Yeltsin or, indeed, Vladimir Putin. It was, however, a priority of the Kremlin to maintain the lease on the Black Sea Fleet base in Sevastopol the renewal of – which was one of first official acts as Ukrainian president and the Viktor Yanukovych’s – Kremlin would periodically play up the to pique either whomever was region’s divided loyalties in power in Ukraine, or the West in general. Thus, in July 2009, not long after welcoming Barack Obama to Moscow to launch a short-lived of US-Russian relations, Putin met with the ‘reset’ and presented them with an outsized Russian tricolor to take with ‘Night Wolves’ biker gang them on a ride from Moscow to Sevastopol. But when protests erupted in Sevastopol, the regional capital Simferopol and other parts of the peninsula after flight from Kyiv, the decision to mobilize green Yanukovych’s ‘little men’
By 2015, however, the initial authorities had faded, and the network was dominated by groups and content much more focused on the ‘here and now’ of the conflict. These included groups like ‘Russians Online’ (see Figure 10), whose symbolism draws together emblems of both Russia and the Donetsk People’s Republic, and ‘News Front’ (see Figure 11), providing reporting from the front lines. Insert Figures 10, 11 here. Discussion The Russian annexation of Crimea was popular, but it was not a popular movement. Grievance over the loss of Crimea to an independent post-Soviet Ukraine had always been present in Russian public opinion and had occasionally motivated nationalist-minded politicians such as Vladimir Zhirinovsky or Yury Luzhkov, without ever becoming an official plank of Russian foreign policy under Boris Yeltsin or, indeed, Vladimir Putin. It was, however, a priority of the Kremlin to maintain the lease on the Black Sea Fleet base in Sevastopol – the renewal of which was one of Viktor Yanukovych’s first official acts as Ukrainian president – and the Kremlin would periodically play up the region’s divided loyalties to pique either whomever was in power in Ukraine, or the West in general. Thus, in July 2009, not long after welcoming Barack Obama to Moscow to launch a short-lived ‘reset’ of US-Russian relations, Putin met with the ‘Night Wolves’ biker gang and presented them with an outsized Russian tricolor to take with them on a ride from Moscow to Sevastopol. But when protests erupted in Sevastopol, the regional capital Simferopol and other parts of the peninsula after Yanukovych’s flight from Kyiv, the decision to mobilize ‘little green men’