RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and SemanticsRUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics2313-22992411-1236Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia named after Patrice Lumumba (RUDN University)7140Research ArticleRussia’s Portrayal in the Western Media: Culturological Context (based on British and American Newspaper Material)MaximovaO BThe Department of Foreign Languages Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanitiesgo_lukyanova.rudn@mail.ruPeoples’ Friendship University of Russia150120131455408092016Copyright © 2013, Maximova O.B.2013The article highlights the influence of sociocultural mentality of English speakers on their perception of Russian socio-political and cultural environment. The author demonstrates that national-cultural specificity can be evident both at the level of organizing and structuring information and at the level of culturological context. The author analyzes the newspaper coverage of Russia in Great Britain and the USA and then comes to the conclusion that both countries can be viewed as one integral linguocultural socium when it comes to Russia’s portrayal.culturological contextthe levels of culturological contextnational and cultural specificityBritish and American pressbackground knowledgeunits of politically biased lexiconthe image of Russiaкультурологический контекстуровни культурологического контекстанационально-культурная спецификабританская и американская прессафоновые знаниялексические единицы с политико-оценочной коннотациейобраз России