Assessing Russia’s information warfare in Ukraine (2013-2015)

: the role of RT/Russia Today and Sputnik in disinformation campaigns targeting international audiences

Abstract

The annexation of Crimea and the Pro-Russian insurgency that took place in the Donbass between 2013 and 2015 have generated academic debate around the concepts of information warfare and disinformation. Aware of Russia’s status as a materially declining power struggling to compete with Western military, and conscious about the significant impact information could have in shaping the outcome of a conflict, Putin developed a strong disinformation apparatus capable of deceiving states, politicians and societies at large. This dissertation proposes to study the contribution of Russia Today (RT hereafter) and Sputnik, two outward-looking, English-language news website which are known to be under the influence of the Kremlin, in the dissemination of falsehoods. The goal is to understand whether the news coverage of these outlets intentionally followed the Russian official recount of events, even when it was evidently untrue. The application of the content analysis methodology in this dissertation, in which over 200 news pieces were monitored and analysed, revealed that RT and Sputnik disseminated a total of 13 false narratives which had been created by Putin and Russian officials. This dissertation makes use of Barry Buzan, Ole Wæver and Jaap de Wilde’s Securitization theory to explain how information entered the military doctrine of the Russian Federation and how it, ultimately, became a conflict domain.

Date of Award	18 Mar 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Raquel Duque (Supervisor)