RUSSIAN MEDIA POLICY AS A FACTOR OF POLITICAL DESTABILIZATION IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
RUSSIAN MEDIA POLICY AS A FACTOR OF POLITICAL DESTABILIZATION IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

Summary/Abstract: The usage of information as a weapon in foreign and domestic policies of Russia is not anew phenomenon. Still sophistication and intensity of it grows with each passing year. Recently the EU and the USA have realized this powerful latent influence of Russian media and propaganda, including electoral processes and activities of state administration. They realized that Russian misinformation poses a serious threat to the United States and its European allies, first and foremost with regard to Poland, the Baltic States and Ukraine. Moreover, unlike Soviet propaganda, the modern methods of the Russian information war do not rudely promote the agenda of the Kremlin. Instead, they aim to confuse,daze and divert citizens from the EU and Ukraine support. Russia seeks to undermine the support of European values, producing disarray among European allies in order to increase its influence. Despite the fact that the crisis in Ukraine for the first time drew the attention of the West to the importance and real meaning of the information campaign in Russia, the Kremlin’s use of misinformation was launched long before the crisis. It has been increasing its presence in the information space and also has been recruiting and sponsoring (corrupting) a range of politicians, civil servants and public figures in line with its strategic goals.

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