Western scholars and politicians struggle to understand the elements of Russia’s “hybrid warfare” and how to counter it. Means for “soft,” non-military Russian influence in the post-Soviet sphere and the European Union includes export media such as the television broadcaster RT and the media platform Sputnik, the targeted expansion of informal financial networks, and funding and support for left- and right-wing populist political parties and organizations. The chief of the Russian General Staff described new rules of 21st century warfare in a 2013 speech, where political goals are to be obtained through the “widespread use of disinformation… deployed in connection …read more