Der (un)gute Freund in Moskau. Argumentative Strukturen der kriegsbedingten Neupositionierung eines populistischen Vorbilds

Before the outbreak of the war, both Italian and German populist parties regarded Vladimir Putin, sometimes explicitly and at other times less overtly, as a political role model whose leadership style and decisions served as a source of inspiration for their respective national governments. The aim of this paper is to investigate how the linguistic portrayal of the Russian president has changed in the discourses of leading politicians from populist right-wing parties in Italy and Germany as a result of the war-related developments. The analysis is based on transcripts of oral statements, primarily from public speeches and appearances on talk shows, made by the top representatives of these parties. The focus is on whether linguistic positioning strategies can be identified that depict Putin as a ›friend‹ before the invasion of Ukraine and possibly as a ›foe‹ after the war began. Particularly relevant is the question of whether the politicians’ linguistic portrayals reveal signs of embarrassment or discomfort in light of the war of aggression initiated by Putin.