In 2022, Russia completed its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The EU responded with powerful restrictive measures against Russia to demonstrate its unified support for Ukraine, indicating that the perception of Russia as an external threat to the EU, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), has become increasingly evident following the invasion. Drawing on theory and previous research suggesting that external threats strengthen group identities, I argue that Russia is perceived as an external threat to EU identity in CEE after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Stephan and Stephan's integrated threat theory considers an external threat as either realistic, posing a threat to the ingroup's existence, or symbolic, posing a threat to the ingroup's worldview. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between EU identity and the perception of Russia as a group threat to the EU among individuals in CEE based on the nature of the group threat: realistic and symbolic.

Jag ser mig prima?rt som artist och la?tskrivare. Det ha?r projektet pa?bo?rjades i en o?nskan att uto?ka, fo?rba?ttra och fokusera mitt musikaliska material och mitt artisteri. Jag tog avstamp i na?gra musikaliska influenser fra?n Mellano?stern och Sydo?steuropa och la?t de fa?rga mig i skrivandet av sju nya la?tar.