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.
Rachael Dean Wilson and David Salvo Discuss How Authoritarian Governments are Influencing Pennsylvania Elections with World Affairs Council Pittsburgh
Exacerbating polarization in America is a strategic move for authoritarian governments like Russia, China, and Iran. A democracy entangled in its own disagreements is a weakened player on the world stage and a boon for competitor nations. Iran and R [...]
Hamilton Toplines: July 18–24, 2022
Russia Monitored Russian accounts tweeted 15,939 times last week, pulling in 165,609 retweets and 506,058 likes. Russian propagandists last week focused on Vladimir Putin’s trip to Tehran and the agreements he reached with the leaders of Iran and Tu [...]
Hamilton Toplines: July 11–17, 2022
Russia Monitored Russian government and state media accounts tweeted 15,282 times last week, generating 170,562 retweets and 523,930 likes. Kremlin linked outlets used US President Joe Biden’s Middle East trip to paint him as inconsistent, submissiv [...]
China and Russia Continue to Subject Dissidents Abroad to Harassment, Intimidation, and Worse
The People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Russian Federation, the world’s most powerful authoritarian states, both routinely target dissidents outside their borders because the brittleness of autocracy makes dissident citizens living freely abroa [...]
Hamilton Monthly Report: June 2022
Top Takeaways The downward spiral of Russian state media on Twitter and Facebook continued in June. Monitored Russian accounts on Twitter saw a 17 percent decline in retweets and an 18 percent decline in likes compared to May, while state media Page [...]
Hamilton Toplines: July 4–10, 2022
Russia Monitored Russian accounts tweeted 16,236 times last week, generating 191,388 retweets and 584,066 likes. Kremlin-linked accounts took aim at UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson after he announced his resignation, making “Johnson” the second most [...]
Yandex Dashboard Analysis: On NATO and Neo-Nazis
Top Headlines in Russia Key Phrase: NATO At the NATO Summit in Madrid, NATO allies adopted a new Strategic Concept that labels Russia the main threat to transatlantic security. The top headlines on Yandex’s news aggregator portray the summit relativ [...]
Zack Cooper Assess Economic Measures Against Russia on War on the Rocks
Chris, Melanie, and Zack consider the economic measures taken by the United States and Europe to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, especially those pertaining to oil and natural gas. To what extent are these policies responsible for risin [...]
Hamilton Toplines: June 27 – July 3
Russia Russian state media and diplomats last week tweeted 17,313 times, generating 196,139 retweets and 614,738 likes. Russian propagandists last week posted more than 1,000 tweets mentioning NATO, bringing in more than 19,000 retweets and 56,000 l [...]
Pro-Chaos: Russian and Chinese Messaging on the Overturning of Roe v. Wade
Overview On June 24, the US Supreme Court struck down the constitutional right to an abortion, sparking an outpouring of protests and national media coverage. Russian and Chinese propagandists also weighed in, though their messaging strategies on th [...]
Hamilton Toplines: June 20 – 26, 2022
Russia Monitored Russian accounts tweeted 17,875 times last week, pulling in 200,445 retweets and 613,214 likes. Russian propagandists reacted to Ukraine and Moldova earning EU candidate status by arguing that the bloc was building a war-like coalit [...]
Brussels Forum Day 2 // Rebuilding Trust in Elections
It takes more than superb election officials and secure processes to build trust in elections – it is truly a whole of society effort. Democracies need engaged leadership from government, the private sector, the media, and civil society to push back [...]