book chapter
Russian Strategic Communication Towards Europe: Goals, Means and Measures
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. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021.
Author keywords
information warfare, public diplomacy, russian foreign policy, strategic communication, strategic narratives