Interaction between Government and Civil Society: a Case Study of Network Activity of Ukrainians in Russia (2014‒2022)

The study focuses on analysing the virtual interactions of displaced Ukrainians in the social media. The author highlights that the Russian federal authorities have taken steps to facilitate the integration of displaced persons: developing comprehensive adaptation programs, simplifying the citizenship process and providing diverse socioeconomic support, while cultural and some social aspects of adaptation and integration have become a field for online communities of Ukrainians. The collected empirical materials allowed for the identification of key discursive patterns and the role of virtual social constructs in the processes of acculturation and sociocultural integration of displaced persons in Russian society. The choice of temporal boundaries (April 2014 – February 2022) is determined by the specifics of the studied cohort represented by displaced Ukrainians from Donbass. The nomination of online communities was determined by individual preferences and could be conditioned by territorial or social characteristics of the participants. Geolocation markers such as “Donbass” had a prevailing significance in the context of social aggregations associated with individuals from this region; notably, there was an absence of markers like “Ukraine”, “Ukrainian” or “ukrainian”. The author notes that virtual interactions in such communities represent offline contexts, facilitating open communication and interaction among participants without hierarchical stratification. The study reveals the absence of rigid opposition from the community to the new social environment, a low level of isolationism in online groups and the presence of intra-group contacts. The research results demonstrate the evolution of interaction patterns among Ukrainians in the virtual environment and their effective adaptation to new sociocultural conditions.

displaced persons, migration, compatriot community, Donbass, corporatism, social networks, communities