ZAPAD 2021 Communication analysis: messages, narratives, (dis)information
ZAPAD 2021 Communication analysis: messages, narratives, (dis)information

Author(s): Valeriy Akimenko, Daivis Petraitis, Viktoras Daukšas, Balys Liubinavičius
Subject(s): Media studies, Government/Political systems, International relations/trade, Security and defense, Military policy, Political behavior, Politics and communication, Comparative politics, Health and medicine and law, Peace and Conflict Studies
Published by: NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence
Keywords: ZAPAD 2021; NATO; Russia; Show of force; Vladimir Putin; Belarus; Covid-19; Information activity triggers; media; false information;
Summary/Abstract: On 10-16 September 2021, Russia conducted the formal part of ZAPAD 2021, one in a cycle of annual military exercises which represent the culmination of training by the Russian Federation Armed Forces in a given year. As ‘Zapad’ (the Russian word for ‘west’) suggests, the exercise is centred on what Russia calls the Western strategic sector or ‘direction’. ZAPAD 2021 included Belarus. Accordingly, it was termed ‘a joint strategic exercise’, primarily to emphasise the participation of Belarus as well as that of the Russia-controlled Collective Security Treaty Organisation. ZAPAD 2021 was preceded by weeks of preparatory and associated exercises, and, as repeatedly emphasised by Russia, involved as many as 200,000 troops, drawn predominantly from Russia. ZAPAD 2021 included a powerful communication campaign in the form of messages and narratives, which this study identifies, explores, and explains. This study consists of two separate but interconnected parts: Part I looks at the exercise from the perspective of what the exercise signalled, both explicitly and implicitly. It deconstructs and groups these messages and narratives.

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