Russian Image Interpretation Problem in Mass Media of Latin America Countries (on the Example of Newspapers "Clarin" - Argentina, "El Tiempo" - Colombia, "El Refroma" - Mexico)

In recent years the confrontation between Russia and the countries of the European Union and the United States has increased. There was a need to seek new economic partners and political allies, including among Latin American states. Today diplomatic work with this region is one of the goals of the government of the Russian Federation, which is spelled out in the Foreign Policy Concept. In this regard it is important to understand what the image of our country is created by the media of Latin America. To study this issue, we turned to investigate the concept of "image" in political, sociology and other sciences. Under the interpretation of the image of the country we consider the explanations of its actions in the international arena, including evaluative judgments and ideas about some elements of history. Publications of the three leading newspapers of Argentina, Colombia and Mexico - Clarin, El Tiempo and El Reforma, respectively were considered in the work at the syntactic level. The analysis is based on the actant theory of A.-G. Greimas, as well as the works of his predecessors V.Ya. Proppa, E. Surio. This approach has made it possible to determine the main actant roles and functions that are assigned to Russia, its links with other actors. The main findings of the study are that interest in Russia mainly arises from its relationship with the United States, which is the defender of democratic principles in the world. They are opposed by our country, whose image is interpreted as a state that supports authoritarian regimes in the international arena (in Syria, in North Korea), as well as the overwhelming rights and freedoms of citizens within the country.