Russia has long been waging operations against democracies using all of the asymmetric tools ASD tracks—information manipulation, cyberattacks, malign finance, civil society subversion, and state economic coercion. The Kremlin’s geographic scope in conducting operations to undermine democracy continues to expand and its tactics continue to evolve. Find ASD’s work on Russia’s attempts to interfere in democracies on this page.
Interference Matters
Catch Me If EU Can: How RT and Sputnik Evade EU Content Bans
Maurice Turner Discusses the White House’s New Task Force to Curb Ransomware on CBS News
Federal officials are looking to crack down on ransomware attacks that are attacking critical U.S. infrastructure by implementing a new multi-agency task force. The announcement comes just days after the notorious Russian-linked ransomware group, RE [...]
Hamilton Toplines: July 5-11, 2021
Russian state media and diplomats extensively covered the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan last week, with Afghanistan ranking as the third most mentioned country and “Taliban” as one of the top 10 key phrases by monitored accounts. Notable narrativ [...]
Maurice Turner Discusses the United States’ Ransomware Deterrent Strategy on CBS News
Our current ransomware deterrent strategy is "simply not working," Cybersecurity Fellow Maurice Turner said. President Biden says he will "deliver" a message to Russian President Putin over the massive global ransomware attack, believed to have or [...]
Hamilton Toplines: June 28-July 4, 2021
Russian diplomatic accounts and state media widely promoted an article (English translation, Kommersant link) by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, pulling out various excerpts from the piece, including claims that the West is “imposing” its va [...]
Hamilton Toplines: June 21-27, 2021
Russian state media last week predictably decried the U.S. takedown of websites linked to Iranian propaganda, including Press TV, as an attack on free speech and evidence that the United States is selective about its commitment to safeguarding a fre [...]
From COVID-19 to the Tokyo Olympics: Russia’s Next Cyber and Information Battle
Covid-19 vaccines and “mask diplomacy” have been the centerpieces of many countries’ soft power strategies over the past year. Early in the pandemic, countries like Russia and China sought to use shipments of personal protective equipment (PPE) and [...]
Hamilton Toplines: June 14-20, 2021
A prominent topic for the Russian state media ecosystem last week was the June 16 Biden-Putin summit in Geneva, Switzerland. Russian state media and diplomatic accounts on Twitter put out Page Six-style, celebrity event coverage of the meeting venue [...]
A View From Moscow and Beijing: How Russia and China Covered Biden’s Europe Trip
Overview Throughout President Biden’s first overseas trip as president—one that saw him attend the 47th G7 Summit in the United Kingdom, the 2021 NATO Brussels Summit and EU-U.S. Summit in Belgium, and a tête-à-tête with Russia President Vladimir Pu [...]
Hamilton Toplines: June 7-13, 2021
A notable narrative in Russian state media coverage of (and limited diplomatic reactions to) the G7 summit and related meetings was that the G7 is outdated, pointless, hypocritical, or exclusive, especially for not including China. State media also [...]
What to Watch: ASD Experts Weigh in as Biden and Putin Prepare to Meet
President Biden’s trip to demonstrate “America’s renewed commitment to our allies and partners” and showcase “the capacity of democracies to both meet the challenges and deter the threats” culminates with a one-on-one meeting between Biden and Russi [...]
Hamilton Toplines: May 31-June 6, 2021
Last week, Russian state media provided substantial coverage of controversies surrounding the release of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s emails and renewed U.S. interest in investigating the origins of the coronavirus. State media amplified domestic criticisms [...]
Biden Puts Oligarchs on Notice
While President Joe Biden’s critics have been arguing that sitting down with Putin on June 16 would look weak and wobbly, White House officials have kept their heads down and laid the groundwork for what could become the most sweeping policy initiat [...]