The relationship between successful disinformation operations and armed conflict: case study of Russia in the 21st century

• Autor(a) principal: Domingues, Ivane Gaspar
• Data de Publicação: 2024
• Outros Autores: Dias, Luís Mendonça, Silva, José Serra da
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.26/51207
• topic: Information warfare; Disinformation; Russia; Crimea; Georgia; Guerra de informação; Desinformação; Rússia; Crimeia; Geórgia

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia has sought to regain influence over the former countries of that political union using political, information, economic, energy, ethnic and religious tools. The two cases analysed in this paper – the armed invasions of Georgia in 2008 and Crimea in 2014 – are unique in the sense that they are territories which Russia claims are in its area of influence, and over which it has used conventional military means to stake those claims. Rapid execution of military operations and the fulfilment of military and political objectives cannot be separated from other so-called unconventional operations. In this study, we analyse information operations, their impact on the territories in question and the immediate consequences of the conflicts. The findings showed that information operations helped prepare the ground by persuading local populations that the Russian narrative was justified, creating organisations and groups of citizens sympathetic to Russian demands, corrupting political and social structures and demoralising the opposing security and defence forces.