Russia’s Spreading Influence: Strategies, Tactics, And Narratives 

While Russia wages its illegal aggression against Ukraine, there has been a noticeable uptick in Russia-sponsored intelligence operations against the west. Moscow pushes through its agenda: from denying the very existence of Ukrainian statehood to stoking the fire of divisions, old and new, in the west, and propagates its narratives, such as elites vs common people or the collapse of western civilisation. Ironically, Russia argues it wants peace and stability. This continues in parallel with sabotage operations, often perpetrated by criminals, anonymously hired online via gig economy platforms. Russian tactics are not new—many are familiar from the heydays of the Soviet Union, some even older, but the digital world opens new opportunities to use them. What are the most common narratives that Russia is pushing? How to counter influence activities in an environment where hiring criminals has become a lot easier, and where spinning a story on social media costs a fraction of what an information campaign used to cost?