Russia’s strategic framing of the war in Ukraine has shaped both its diplomatic signalling and information environment in ways that matter for international security, negotiation behaviour, and great-power competition.In this episode of The Security Affair, Alexander Anderson, Director of Policy at the Centre for International Security and Economic Strategy (CISES), is joined by Dr Chris Monday, Associate Professor of Economics at Dongseo University and co-host of Russia Decoded. They examine how Russian leaders and state media describe the war as an existential “war of survival”, how coercive diplomacy and negotiation signalling interact with battlefield dynamics, and what this reveals about Moscow’s conception of power politics and strategic hierarchy.The discussion explores:• Existential war framing and strategic messaging• Coercive diplomacy and negotiation tactics• State media narratives and public stability• Western division and external narrative targeting• Russia–China strategic partnership and asymmetric constraintsListeners will gain analytical insights into Russian strategic communication, negotiation behaviour, and the intersection of messaging with international power structures.Subscribe and follow for in-depth analysis on defence, geopolitics, and international security from The Security Affair.