Echo releases an “Ethnographic Dictionary of War” based on thousands of appeals...

Forwarded From ЭХО / Новости

⚫️⚫️⚫️ Echo has released an “Ethnographic Dictionary of War” based on thousands of appeals from Russian servicemen and their relatives

Echo presents the special project “Ethnographic Dictionary of War”, prepared by social anthropologist Alexandra Arkhipova and psychologist Yury Lapshin. The study is based on an analysis of nearly 9,500 appeals to the human rights ombudsman, submitted from late April to early September 2025 and processed by Echo journalists.

Based on these appeals, 71% of which are connected to the war in Ukraine, the researchers compiled a dictionary of 77 entries devoted to the language of war participants. In the letters, servicemen of the Russian army and their relatives speak about life at the front, relations with commanders, coercion into signing contracts, corruption, rights violations, torture, and problems with payments.

The project analyzes such concepts as “zeroing out,” “cargo 200,” “the front line,” “the ribbon,” “meat,” “combat pay,” and other words that regularly appear in the appeals. In the authors’ view, this “trench language” reflects a particular social reality of war and is gradually becoming part of everyday speech beyond the front.

In addition to analyzing appeals to the ombudsman, the authors compared the data with messages in thematic chats of servicemen’s relatives and interviews with war participants.

The text of the project was reviewed and suggestions were made by CIT head Ruslan Leviev.

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