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.
Bret Schafer Discusses Russia’s Covid-19 Vaccine Disinformation on ‘The Inoculation’
Media and Digital Disinformation Fellow Bret Schafer joined "The Inoculation" to discuss Russia's disinformation and mal-information campaign around Western Covid-19 vaccines. Bret, the hosts, and other guests take a look at how the Russian governm [...]
Hamilton Toplines: May 3-9, 2021
Russian state media predictably used the Facebook Oversight Board’s ruling to uphold the company’s previous decision to ban former President Trump from the platform to advance its usual Big Tech censorship narrative and amplify Trump’s anti-Big Tech [...]
Jessica Brandt and Bret Schafer: Using the Truth to Tell A Lie: Authoritarian Covid-19 Vaccine Mal-Information Strategies
Over the past year, the regimes in Russia, China, and Iran have used a combination of public diplomacy, propaganda, and overt and covert disinformation campaigns to portray their respective responses to the pandemic as superior to those of the West. [...]
Hamilton Toplines: April 26-May 2, 2021
In the wake of the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency’s (Anvisa) decision not to authorize Sputnik V for import to Brazil, the Sputnik V Twitter account slammed the choice as the result of political pressure from the United States, criticized Anvisa [...]
Josh Rudolph Talks Sanctioning Russia on ‘The Power Vertical’
How do you sanction a problem like Russia? For nearly a decade, the United States and its allies have been levying sanctions against Moscow in an effort to deter its revanchist behavior and contain its malign influence activities. And over this per [...]
How to Structure a Foreign Malign Influence Center
On Monday, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) confirmed to Politico that it is working to establish a Foreign Malign Influence Center. The center, which was first authorized as part of the 2020 Defense Authorization bill, wil [...]
Regulating Beneficial Ownership for National Security
Key Point Beneficial ownership reform offers a historic opportunity—if strongly implemented—to build resilience against what has become a leading national security threat: malign actors funded by and weaponizing the proceeds of kleptocracy to harm t [...]
Hamilton Toplines: April 19-25, 2021
Russia’s coronavirus vaccine coverage last week featured, as per usual, positive news about Sputnik V—such as Argentina starting local production of Sputnik V, the arrival of Sputnik in Venezuela, and reports of the vaccine’s overall efficacy—and ne [...]
Nad’a Kovalčíková Discusses Putin’s Annual Speech on Euronews’ Good Morning Europe
ASD Program Manager and Fellow Naďa Kovalčíková spoke to Euronews ahead of Russian President Putin’s annual address to the nation. She discussed Russia’s destabilizing efforts to advance its strategic interests, Russia’s tense diplomatic relations w [...]
Hamilton Toplines: April 12-18, 2021
Russian state media and diplomats predictably denounced last week’s new U.S. sanctions on the country, which the Russian Foreign Ministry characterized as an “attack.” They also criticized the rationale behind the sanctions, blamed the United States [...]
Josh Rudolph in Just Security: Limited Sanctions Will Not Deter Putin, But They Are a Fine Start
The Russia sanctions announced by the Biden administration on Thursday did not impose severe financial costs on Moscow, although the measures are stronger than those of the Trump administration because they are credibly reinforced by the president’s [...]
Hamilton Toplines: April 5-11, 2021
Amid heightened tensions in eastern Ukraine, Russian state media and diplomats last week reupped their usual narratives about the conflict: blaming Ukraine for the situation, suggesting that Russia poses no threat (but hinting that Russia could inte [...]