This article explores the conceptual idea of Russia’s development between 2016 and 2017 as reflected in the analytical review and expert opinion genres from online publications on socio-political issues through the horizontal model of spatial metaphors. The author analysed a total of 35 texts united by a common topic (“year in review”), with their authors having different political views. The methodological basis of the research is the idea of a metaphor as a cognitive and modelled phenomenon which plays an important role in the formation of the linguistic worldview. The purpose of the article is to establish the basic principles of how Russian reality is conceptualised within the framework of the horizontal spatial model of metaphorisation. The 766 metaphorical contexts singled out from the aforementioned texts are studied using a complex methodology of systemic contextual, semantic, and cognitive analysis of linguistic phenomena. The author establishes a general structure of this model and reveals its most frequent and relevant varieties. The author also analyses the role of conceptual metaphors in the representation of the linguistic worldview of the authors of analytical reviews and expert opinions. She argues that the model is based on the contrast between the state of rest and movement, conceived as the absence or presence of qualitative changes in the economic, socio-political, and other spheres, the desire or opportunity to change anything in those spheres coming from the representatives of the authorities, political and financial institutions, etc. It is emphasised that the figurative meanings of words characterising the state of rest and joint movement are the least frequent. This indicates that within the model in question, it is untypical of journalists and experts to present the situation in Russia during late 2016 and early 2017 as static. Additionally, the issues of interaction between different socio-political forces inside the country and those between Russia and other states are not considered priorities. The study of the metaphor is systemic and helps create a varied, but also well-structured, image of the country’s development over a year.