On February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, framed as a limited “special military operation”, rather than the largest invasion in Europe since World War II. Although Ukraine put up fierce resistance, the Kremlin doubled down on their “special military operation”, using the Russian information space to insulate their population from the realities of the catastrophic invasion. However, as the months passed, Ukrainian capabilities grew, and a new threat to the carefully cultivated image of the invasion as limited emerged: strikes on military bases on territory that had been held by Russia before February 24. This study looks at the Russian media space’s reaction to four drone attacks on Russian held territory through mainstream media. The study uses the method “Naming, Blaming, Claiming” with the aim of showing how Russian media identified the problem (naming), who was responsible (blaming), and what was done to mitigate the issue (claiming). It will be shown that the blame for these attacks shifted with time, from Ukraine to the West. Additionally, it provides insight into how the Russian information space, specifically news media, behaves during such events.

This study seeks to investigate, from both macro and micro perspectives, the effect of brand activism on consumer loyalty.  The macro perspective examines the general relationship between brand activism and consumer loyalty, whereas the micro perspective examines the specific context of companies' withdrawal from Russia as a form of brand activism.  The study conducts a comprehensive analysis of how the consumer receives information about brand activism. The macro-level literature review investigates the definition and evolution of brand activism, the relationship between brand activism and consumer loyalty, and the communication strategies' effect on consumer loyalty. On a micro level, the study concentrates on the decisions corporations made as part of their brand activism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict of 2022.  The purpose of this study is to thoroughly comprehend the intricate relationship between brand activism and consumer loyalty.  The methodology section describes the hypotheses model as well as the research strategy based on surveys and interviews.  This study's findings provide new insights into the influence of brand activism on consumer loyalty and its three components (cognitive, affective, and behavioral) as well as brand activism communication strategies on the macro level, and into the specific context of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on the micro level. It highlights that brand activism shapes consumer loyalty differently through the three components and according to the context. Additionally, social media is the communication channel that influences the most the relationship between brand activism and consumer loyalty on both macro and micro perspectives.  This study contributes to the disciplines of marketing and consumer behavior by advancing the relationship among brand activism, consumer loyalty, and communication.

This thesis concerns about the effectiveness of sanctions imposed between Russia and the EU in 2014. Firstly are conducted theoretical foundations of sanctions and their imposition from the EU as well as Russian contra-sanctions. Secondly, the analysis is based on the gravity model in trade in log-linear form and further develop out-of-sample estimations about trade potentials. Although trade potentials did not proved the expected decrease in exports from EU to Russia, the Input-Output analysis of impacts on exports of food products did so. Results yielded calculated impacts on GDP of various countries due to food embargo that are more or less comparable with the actual evolution of GDP and trade flows. Thirdly, the indirect effects of sanctions of third country effect and re-exports are observed from trade patterns. There has been recorded increased exports of food related products from the EU towards members of Euroasian Customs Union as well as increased imports from these countries to Russia. Finally, the results points out decreased economic activity of Russia due to depreciation of domestic currency, capital flight, decline in oil prices and also sanctions adding up to the problems the economy deals with. The economic impacts of sanctions are present in both parties. However, from the political view sanctions did not proved to be effective so far. Russian intervention in Ukraine territory is continuing.