Russia-Ukraine War: Analysis of Vladimir Putin's speech when starting the Ukraine War on February 24, 2022

The speech Vladimir Putin delivered on February 24, 2022, initiating the Ukrainian War, forms the focal point of this study. The research aims to analyze how the political, military, historical, cultural, nationalist, and legal discourses used in this speech attempted to legitimize the war. This research, which adopts Norman Fairclough's three-dimensional critical discourse analysis approach, which is a qualitative research method and addresses the discourse at the levels of description (textual analysis), interpretation (discursive analysis) and explanation (social analysis), aims to reveal the ideological and legal dimensions of the war and how Putin uses language as a strategic tool in communication by examining the discourse and linguistic structures in question. This approach aims to uncover not only the speech's explicit statements but also its underlying meanings and legal ambiguities. The significance of this research lies in its ability to transcend traditional strategic and geopolitical approaches to understanding the causes of war and to highlight its linguistic, cultural, and ideological dimensions. Within this framework, the research offers a perspective that emphasizes that war is waged not only through weapons but also through language. The research found that Putin extensively used historical, cultural, and nationalist discourses in his speech to legitimize Russia's intervention in Ukraine. Furthermore, political and military discourses such as NATO's eastward expansion and the West's influence on Ukraine constructed the narrative that Russia's intervention in Ukraine was necessary and legitimate. In this context, Putin invoked the controversial concepts of self-defense and preventive self-defense in international law as fundamental justifications for the war. The research found that while human rights violations and humanitarian intervention were presented as the moral and legal basis for war, these concepts were instrumentalized to serve Russia's strategic interests. Furthermore, the speech also employed the concepts of intervention by invitation and the right to self-determination to support the legal legitimacy of the war. The most general finding of the research is that Putin is trying to bend and instrumentalize international law, similar to what the West does, by using similar legal concepts and discourses that the West has used in its international intervention policies in order to legitimize his own war policy. In conclusion, the discourses in Putin's speech on February 24, 2022, demonstrate that war is built upon a multidimensional structure. International legal principles, beyond being neutral norms, are reinterpreted in line with balances of power and political interests. The historical, cultural, and nationalist discourses in the speech were used as strategic tools to legitimize war. Furthermore, legal concepts such as human rights, humanitarian intervention, self-defense, preventive self-defense, intervention by invitation, and the right to self-determination were stretched and shaped in line with ideological and political objectives. This research reveals how Putin's use of language shapes international law as a tool of legitimacy and how the West attempts to justify its interventions through similar strategies. Thus, it is concluded that war discourse is more than merely a military action; it is a complex linguistic and ideological fabrication. As long as the double standards and legal distortions in discourse persist, wars will continue to be constructed not only on the battlefield but also at the level of discourse.