Information warfare is a relatively new doctrinal term in non-conventional tactical strategies. However, Sun Tzu, the ancient military strategist opined ‘All warfare is deception’, which implies that warfare itself is based on the use or misuse of information. During World War II, the fields of propaganda, deception, and electronic warfare (jamming the radio signals of the enemy) used to be distinctly separate. In 21st-century warfare, the fields have become more unified in doctrine and practice. The Russia-Ukraine war explicitly shows that information warfare is not a distant future, but it is in practice.
Although Russia invaded Ukraine with its military on the ground with tanks, artillery, fighter jets and others, the Kremlin also utilises cyberspace to use propaganda, fake social media accounts, forged documents, manipulated videos, AI-generated images, and so on. Russia’s tremendous efforts to push the narratives in order to deflect blame from Moscow and undermine support for Ukraine have been visible across the digital sphere. Analysing the Kremlin’s information operations in Ukraine, Russia needed sympathetic gestures from the international community. This paper examines Russia’s deployment of information operations and deception capabilities against Ukraine and how cyberspace shapes public opinion.
Russia’s Cyber Warfare Against Ukraine
All the views and opinions expressed are those of the author. Image Credit – Sky News
About the Author
Sanchaly Bhattacharya is a research associate at The Geostrata and a teaching assistant at the Jindal School of International Affairs (JSIA). She is a contributing writer for various think tanks and news media outlets such as Organisation for Research on China and Asia (ORCA), Defence and Security Alert Magazine and Modern Diplomacy. She is currently pursuing Master of Arts (MA) in Diplomacy, Law & Business from O. P. Jindal Global University (JGU) and Master of Public Administration (MPA) in Governance & Public Policy from Netaji Subhash Open University, Kolkata. She holds a Bachelors degree in Geography & Economics from West Bengal State University.
