The article analyses “strategies for discrediting opponents” used in the Russian press of 2004-2010. Over a hundreds articles from Argumenty i Fakty and Komsomol’skaia Pravda have been gathered for the analysis. The focus of the investigation was the discourse about the former Soviet republics, which have gained independence after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, i.e. Ukraine, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. The identified linguistic strategies include: irony, humour, metaphor and selection of the cited opinions.