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Russian Strategic Communication Towards Europe: Goals, Means and Measures

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The Russian Federation in Global Knowledge Warfare

Part of the book series: Contributions to International Relations ((CIR))

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the role of strategic communication in Russian foreign policy towards Europe. Based on literature and document review, background interviews with Russian experts, and a content analysis of media, it maps the ideas, individuals, institutions and narratives that support realization of Russian policy ambitions towards Europe. It examines Russian strategic objectives and how the strategic ambitions are expressed, linguistically and rhetorically, in narratives covering European affairs. The chapter includes an examination of several case studies of the Russian use of various information measures to support Russian policies towards Europe. Special attention is paid to the coverage of three important political events in Europe and how they were presented in the Russian public diplomacy news outlets RT and Sputnik News, as well as in Rossiyskaya Gazeta. The three cases are the Russian narratives on the Brexit referendum, the NATO Warsaw summit and the decision to station American troops in Norway. The analysis reveals the use of narratives that delegitimize and ridicule Western actors, and simultaneously portray Russia as the responsible, knowledgeable and appeasing party—classic great-power traits. The examined Russian narratives question the democratic legitimacy of Western political leaders’ decisions in foreign affairs and play into a divide between the people and the elites, which all are recurrent themes in Russian state-driven propaganda forming an important part of what is sometimes presented as Russian political warfare aimed at the West.

This chapter is based on findings from the project Russian strategic communication and political ambitions in Europe (RUSSTRAT) funded by the grant from the Norwegian Ministry of Defence and conducted jointly by the author and the NUPI Research Fellow Malin Østevik whose main contribution to the project was the detailed examination of the three case studies.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    When referring to ‘Russian strategic communication’ from now on, this should be understood as ‘Russian strategic communication as part of its foreign policy’. When referring to ‘Russia’ the text refers to actions undertaken and supported by the representatives of the current regime and actors who formally or informally represent this regime. The term ‘strategic communication’ is used instead of the related concept of ‘public diplomacy’ because the latter traditionally implies communication efforts that are directed at foreign publics as opposed to foreign elites. In the modern Internet saturated society this distinction appears artificial and therefore the wider, but arguably less specific concept of ‘strategic communication’ is used.

  2. 2.

    For an overview see Sputnik website https://sputniknews.com/ under link All editions.

  3. 3.

    RIA Novosti website https://ria.ru/.

  4. 4.

    RT website: https://www.rt.com/.

  5. 5.

    With Rossiyskaya Gazeta Russian translations of these phrases were used.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, Oslo, Norway

    Jakub M. Godzimirski

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  1. Jakub M. Godzimirski
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Correspondence to Jakub M. Godzimirski .

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  1. Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia

    Holger Mölder

  2. Estonian Military Academy, Tartu, Estonia

    Vladimir Sazonov

  3. Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia

    Archil Chochia

  4. Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia

    Tanel Kerikmäe

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Godzimirski, J.M. (2021). Russian Strategic Communication Towards Europe: Goals, Means and Measures. In: Mölder, H., Sazonov, V., Chochia, A., Kerikmäe, T. (eds) The Russian Federation in Global Knowledge Warfare. Contributions to International Relations. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73955-3_4

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