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.
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state media coverage of (and limited diplomatic reactions to) the G7 summit and related meetings was that the G7 is outdated, pointless, hypocritical, or exclusive, especially for not including China.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 [...]
David Salvo Discusses How to Strengthen Transatlantic Relations in Response to Russia and China with EUROPEUM
After the first 100 days of the US President Biden in the office and in expectation of the upcoming NATO summit in June 2021, it is the right time to assess where the transatlantic relationship stands and especially in regard to countering two of it [...]
Belarus Is Part of Europe’s Russia Problem
For years, Alexander Lukashenko has been a problem frequently discussed but easily forgotten. When Belarus forced Ryanair flight FR4978 to land in Minsk and arrested Raman Pratasevich and Sofia Sapega, it took away the freedom and security not only [...]
Hamilton Toplines: May 24-30, 2021
After Belarusian authorities forced a Ryanair plane to land in Minsk on May 23 and arrested opposition journalist Roman Protasevich, who was a passenger on the flight, Russian state media and diplomats strongly criticized Western responses to the in [...]
Etienne Soula Discusses Russia’s Covid Vaccine Disinformation Operations in L’Express
A suspicious agency offered European influencers money to spread negative publicity about the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine. Research Assistant Etienne Soula spoke to L'Express about the similarities between this information manipulation attempt and Ru [...]
Hamilton Toplines: May 17-23, 2021
Last week, Russian state media continued to highlight incidents of police brutality during the protests in Colombia and related human rights concerns, though the volume of such content continued to taper off from its peak the first week of May. (On [...]
Kristine Berzina and Josh Rudolph Talk the Geopolitics of Nord Stream 2 on ‘The Power Vertical’
It was always going to be a difficult needle to thread. The Biden administration clearly views Russia’s Nord Stream-2 natural gas pipeline as a geopolitical project that threatens European energy security and that of Ukraine and eastern flank NATO a [...]
The Good Web: Is There an Authoritarian Model for the Internet?
What Countries Buy Into When They Buy Authoritarian Technologies In February 2021, ASD held a security and geopolitics workshop as part of the Good Web project entitled “Authoritarian Models, Practices, and Threats,” in which participants discussed [...]
Hamilton Toplines: May 10-16, 2021
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict was a major story for Russian state media last week, with #Palestine the most frequently used topical hashtag by Russia’s Twitter accounts tracked on Hamilton, and Israel tied with Russia for the most-mentioned count [...]