Foreign Policy Image of the Eurasian Economic Union in the Mass Media of the United Kingdom

In a mediatized world, the images of regional unions can sometimes become more important than their territorial and raw material resources. These components are subject to close monitoring of international organizations, the media and the public. A negative attitude towards the union, which can be formed by various audiences amid international information confrontation in times of inaction or insufficient actions on the part of the authorities, and underestimation of the real success of integration, can not only serve as a barrier to an increase in direct foreign investment, but also negatively affect trade turnover with external partners, as well as the attractiveness of national and general labor markets. In this regard, in the context of building a system of interaction with international partners, it is imperative to ascertain what patterns and discourses are formed by foreign media in the minds of various national audiences. Under the conditions of the redistribution of influence spheres and the currently observed change in the balance of power in the international arena, it is of particular interest to analyze the image of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) formed by the United Kingdom (UK) media from the year of the signing of the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union until the end of 2022. In the course of this study, a frequency content analysis of relevant publications in the British online news media was carried out, as well as an analysis of the emotional tone of these articles. The results suggest that initially, the Union was portrayed in the UK news with a negative image, characterized as Vladimir Putin’s own attempt to revive the USSR and confront the European Union (EU). However, since 2016, there has been a sharp decline in journalists’ interest in this topic. Due to the aggravation of the political crisis in 2022, the EAEU returned to the agenda of the British media, but mainly in the context of Russia’s foreign policy. This leads to the assumption that in the period from 2014 to 2022 the EAEU did not take any actions that would contribute to the formation of its foreign policy image, which underlines the necessity of such a study in the current circumstances.