Information Occasions and Information Support of the Russian Federation Hybrid Warfare Against Ukraine
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31861/mhpi2022.45.71-85Keywords:
local hybrid warfare, global information warfare, information occasion, intent analysis, multiple regression modeling, RTAbstract
The events of Russia's local hybrid warfare in Ukraine are in fact the information occasions of Russia's global information war against the West which, especially expert circles, seem to comprehend it. Consequently, the problem arises: how local hybrid warfare is combined with global information warfare, and what media tools create narratives based on hybrid warfare that meet the interests of the propaganda initiators. It is important to determine the mechanisms of information influences on Ukrainian society and the world community in modern wars. The aim of the study was to find out how the general characteristics of Russian pro-government media reports (intensity, events and intentions) depend on the events in the war zone and the general situation in Ukraine, where the hybrid war is waged. In the study information and analytical materials of the Russian international multilingual information channel RT were researched. The headlines and leads of more than 44 thousand short information messages for the period from October 1, 2014 to June 30, 2020 and more than 1 thousand analytical materials for the period from October 1, 2018 to June 30, 2020 were analyzed. The following methods were applied: intent analysis of political discourse, methods of descriptive statistics, data visualization, testing of statistical hypotheses, correlation analysis, modeling of multiple regressions. The statistical data are consistent with the two hypotheses of the study: 1) RT reports follow a selective event orientation; 2) RT reports have a clear object and intention orientation. The obtained results let the authors conclude that the mechanism of Russian propagandists’ media influence is conscious, targeted, with pre-planned consequences and begins with the first words of the publications, i.e. the headline and the lead.
References
Horbulin, V. (2016). Hibrydna viyna: vse tilʹky pochynayetʹsya… Dzerkalo tyzhnya. Ukrayina. 25 bereznya. URL: http://gazeta.dt.ua/internal/gibridna-viyna-vse-tilki-pochinayetsya.html.
Dzhon Kerri nazvav telekanal Russia Today «ruporom propahandy», redaktsiya vymahaye vybachenʹ (2014). Media Sapiens, 25 kvitnya. URL: https://ms.detector.media/profstandarti/post/ 987/2014-04-25-dzhon-kerri-nazvav-telekanal-russia-today-ruporom-propagandi-redaktsiya-vimagae-vibachen/.
Negryshev, A. (2004). “O roli SMI v mezhkul'turnoy kommunikatsii (k postanovke problemy)”, INTER-CULTUR@L-NET, Vyp. 3. Yevraziyskiy lingvisticheskiy universitet. URL: http://www.my-luni.ru/journal/clauses/133/
Obstril. Ukrinform. Mulʹtymediyna platforma inomovlennya Ukrayiny. URL: https://www.ukrinform.ua/tag-obstril.
Pavlova, N., Grebenshchikova, T. (2017). “Intent-analiz postsobytiynogo diskursa v internete”. Psikhologicheskiye issledovaniya, 10(52), 8. URL: http://psystudy.ru/index.php/num/2017v10n52/ 1407-pavlova52.html.
Svitova hibrydna viyna: ukrayinsʹkyy front: monohrafiya / za zah. red. V. P. Horbulina. Kyiv: NISD, 2017, 496 s.
Ushakova, T., Pavlova, N., Latynov, V. et al (2000). Slovo v deystvii. Intent-analiz politicheskogo diskursa. SPb.: Aleteyya, 316 s.
Yusʹkiv, B., Khomych, S. (2017). “Rolʹ media-propahandy v umovakh «hibrydnoyi viyny»”, Aktualʹni problemy mizhnarodnykh vidnosyn, Vyp. 132, c. 27-43. URL: http://journals.iir.kiev.ua/ index.php/apmv/article/view/3176/2854.
Andreas, J., Guillaume, L. (2015, April). “NATO’s Hybrid Flanks- Handling Unconventional Warfare in the South and the East”, Research Paper (112), 2. NATO Defense College.
Fridman, O. (2017). “The Danger of ‘Russian Hybrid Warfare’”, Cicero Foundation Great Debate Paper, 17 (5), pp. 3-16. URL: https://www.cicerofoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/ Ofer_Fridman_The_Danger_of_Russian_Hybrid_Warfare.pdf.
Hoffman, F.G. (2007). Conflict in the 21 St Century : The Rise of Hybrid Wars , Arlington: Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, pp. 17-2. URL: http://www.potomacinstitute.org/.
Hoskins, A., O’Loughlin, B. (2010). War and Media: The Emergence of Diffused War, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Hybrid Conflicts and Information Warfare: New Labels, Old Politics (2019), edited by O. Fridman, V. Kabernik, J. C. Pearce, editors, Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 271 р.
Hybrid Warfare: Fighting Complex Opponents from the Ancient World to the Present (2012), W. Murray and P. R. Mansoor (eds). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 329 p.
Kofman, M., Rojansky, M. (2015). “A Closer Look at Russia’s ‘Hybrid War”, Kennan Cable, 7, April, URL: https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/190090/5-KENNAN%20CABLE-ROJANSKY%20 KOFMAN.pdf.
Makhashvili, L. (2017). “The Russian information war and propaganda narratives in the European Union and the EU’s Eastern Partnership countries”, International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, 7 (5). URL: http://www.ijssh.org/vol7/840-HF0035.pdf.
NATO Stratcom Centre of Exellence (2020). Hybrid Threats. A Strategic Communications Perspective, р. 8. URL: https://stratcomcoe.org/hybrid-threats-strategic-communications-perspective.
Nimmo, B. (2015). Anatomy of an Info-War: How Russia’s Propaganda Machine Works, And How to Counter It. URL: https://www.stopfake.org/en/anatomy-of-an-info-war-how-russia-s-propaganda-machine-works-and-how-to-counter-it/.
Patrikarakos, D. (2017). War in 140 Characters: How Social Media is Reshaping Conflict in the Twenty-First Century, New York: Basic Books.
Pomerantsev, P., Weiss, M. (2014). The Menace of Unreality: How the Kremlin Weaponizes Information, Culture and Money, New York: Institute of Modern Russia.
Richterová, J. (2016). NATO & Hybrid Threats. Background Report. URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286344092_NATO_Hybrid_Threats.
Śliwa, Z., Veebel, V., Lebrun, M. (2018). “Russian Ambitions and Hybrid Modes of Warfare”, Sojateadlane (Estonian Journal of Military Studies, 7, pp. 86–108. URL: www.ksk.edu.ee/teadus-ja-arendustegevus/publikatsioonid/.
Suits, D.L. (2019). “Growing concern over information warfare continues to shape military”, Army News Service. December 5. URL: https://www.army.mil/article/230573/growing_concern_over_ information_warfare_continues_to_shape_military.
Veebel, V. (2015). Russian Propaganda, Disinformation and Estonia’s Experience, Tallinn: Foreign Policy Research Institute. URL: https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/194051/veebel-russian_disinformation.pdf.
Wilson, A. (2015). Four Types of Russian Propaganda, Prague: Aspen Institute.
Yuskiv, B., Karpchuk, N., Khomych, S. (2021). “Media Reports as a Tool of Hybrid and Information Warfare (the Case of RT – Russia Today)”, Codrul Cosminolui, Issue 1, Vol. 27, pp. 235-258. URL: http://codrulcosminului.usv.ro/CC27/1/12.html.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
