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Researcher

Natalia Moen-Larsen

Senior Research Fellow
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Contactinfo and files

nm@nupi.no
+(47) 922 95 308
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Summary

Natalia Moen-Larsen is a senior research fellow in the research group on Russia, Asia and International Trade. Her research interests are culture and national identity, inter-ethnic tensions, migration, and nationalism. In addition, Moen-Larsen is interested in political communication, the use of traditional and digital media, and the spread of disinformation and misinformation in Russia.

Moen-Larsen holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Oslo. The PhD examines what three Russian national newspapers wrote about refugees from Ukraine who came to Russia in the spring of 2014 and refugees from the Middle East and North Africa who went to Europe during the "refugee crisis" in 2015. The thesis also discusses the connection between representations of refugees in Russian newspapers and notions of Russia's place in the world and about the West as Russia's adversary.

Moen-Larsen is the editor in chief of Nordisk Østforum, the Nordic journal for East European and Post-Soviet studies.

Expertise

  • Russia and Eurasia
  • Migration
  • Nationalism

Education

2022 PhD of Sociology at the University of Oslo

2009 MA of Sociology at the University of Oslo

Work Experience

2022- Senior Research Fellow, NUPI

2015-2022 PhD Candidate, UiO

2013-2022 Research Fellow, NUPI

2011 Junior Research Fellow, NUPI

2010 Intern, NUPI

2010 Seminar leader, Institute of Sociology, UiO

Aktivitet

Articles
New research
Articles
New research

Russian media downplays Arctic freeze

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to a freeze in cooperation within the Arctic Council. NUPI researchers have taken a closer look at how the Russian media and analysts present the situation to domestic audiences.
  • Security policy
  • Foreign policy
  • Russia and Eurasia
  • The Arctic
  • Climate
Propaganda og ytringsfrihet i Russland
Podcast

Propaganda og ytringsfrihet i Russland

Hva er det som har skjedd med ytringsfriheten i Russland? Og hvilke følger har dette for de det gjelder? Tror russerne på Putins narrativ om invas...

  • Russia and Eurasia
  • Fragile states
  • Nationalism
  • Russia and Eurasia
  • Fragile states
  • Nationalism
Publications
Publications
Research paper

Changing or frozen narratives? The Arctic in Russian media and expert commentary, 2021–2022

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 has brought Russia–West relations to its lowest point since the Cold War. Relations in the Arctic region are not excepted, evidenced not least by the other seven member states’ pausing their participation in Russia’s Arctic Council chairmanship (which concluded in May 2023). To the extent that “Arctic exceptionalism” – the notion that the Arctic has been characterised by a cooperative mode between Russia and the West which has remained relatively untouched by increasing tensions elsewhere – was ever an appropriate description, Western analysts have now declared it firmly dead. How does this situation look from within Russia? This research paper investigates how the Russian state media and the foreign policy expert community have portrayed the Arctic in 2021 and 2022. How much change has been seen since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine? By surveying “the story about the Arctic” as presented by mainstream narrators and experts, we gain insights into, among other things, how changes in Arctic cooperation, sanctions, the role of China in the Arctic, and the question of climate change are conveyed to Russian audiences. The paper proceeds as follows. We start by briefly explaining the methods and data used. We then present a portrayal of the Arctic in Russia’s government’s newspaper Rossiiskaya gazeta, followed by the role of the Arctic in analyses published by the Russian International Affairs Council and the journal Russia in Global Affairs. Lastly, we conclude by discussing a general continuity in the way the Arctic is framed in the material, and foreground three core themes: climate change, security, and cooperation.

  • Foreign policy
  • Russia and Eurasia
  • The Arctic
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  • Foreign policy
  • Russia and Eurasia
  • The Arctic
Research project
2022 - 2025 (Ongoing)

Arctic Pressures (ArcPres)

Russia’s reinvasion of Ukraine in 2022 precipitated a challenging new chapter for Arctic political and security dynamics. Going forward, security and governance developments in the region will continu...

  • Security policy
  • Diplomacy
  • Foreign policy
  • Europe
  • Russia and Eurasia
  • North America
  • The Nordic countries
  • Climate
  • Oceans
  • International organizations
  • Security policy
  • Diplomacy
  • Foreign policy
  • Europe
  • Russia and Eurasia
  • North America
  • The Nordic countries
  • Climate
  • Oceans
  • International organizations
Research project
2022 - 2024 (Ongoing)

Dealing with the challenge of political warfare in the COVID-19 and Ukraine war context (FLANKS 2)

This project will investigate how Nordic and Black Sea Region must be prepared to meet and deal with the challenges posed by political warfare....

  • Defence
  • Security policy
  • NATO
  • Foreign policy
  • Russia and Eurasia
  • Conflict
  • The EU
  • Defence
  • Security policy
  • NATO
  • Foreign policy
  • Russia and Eurasia
  • Conflict
  • The EU
Event
09:00 - 10:30
NUPI/Live stream to Facebook and YouTube
Engelsk
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Event
09:00 - 10:30
NUPI/Live stream to Facebook and YouTube
Engelsk
6. Dec 2022
Event
09:00 - 10:30
NUPI/Live stream to Facebook and YouTube
Engelsk

COVspiracy? COVID-19 conspiracy theories in Putin’s Russia

For years the Kremlin has been promoting conspiracy theories to legitimize its actions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the regime itself became the target of such theories.

Articles
Analysis
Articles
Analysis

How Russian press describes Ukrainian refugees

Pro-government Russian media report that Ukrainian refugees are fleeing from Ukrainian nazis to Russia. The newspapers write far less about millions of Ukrainians who have fled to neighbouring countries in Europe, and they omit any mention that these people are fleeing a Russian invasion.
  • Russia and Eurasia
  • Conflict
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Publications
Publications

“Victims of Democracy” or “Enemies at the Gates”? Russian Discourses on the European “Refugee Crisis”

With over one million people arriving in Europe as refugees, the UN Refugee Agency declared 2015 “the year of Europe’s refugee crisis.” This article explores the meaning-making process surrounding the “refugee crisis” in a Russian context, using discourse theory to analyze representations of refugees, Russia, and the West in opinion pieces and interview articles in three major Russian newspapers. In addition to the humanitarian and security discourses presented in existing studies, I identify a geopolitical discourse that represents refugees as victims of interventionism and democratization processes that the West has promoted in the Middle East and North Africa. More generally, this study adds to the literature on discursive construction of identity and difference.

  • Europe
  • Russia and Eurasia
  • Migration
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  • Europe
  • Russia and Eurasia
  • Migration
Publications
Publications

Migrant Workers in Russia. Global Challenges and the Shadow Economy in Societal Transformation

Moen-Larsen reviews Migrant Workers in Russia. Global Challenges and the Shadow Economy in Societal Transformation edited by Anna-Liisa Heusala, Kaarina Aitamurto and published by Routledge.

  • Russia and Eurasia
  • Migration
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  • Russia and Eurasia
  • Migration
Publications
Publications

Putins propagandaproblem

In this op-ed, Moen-Larsen and Gjerde write about the propaganda that has characterized the official Russian media coverage of the so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine.

  • Russia and Eurasia
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  • Russia and Eurasia
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