U.S. think-tank reports on Kremlin social media strategy in Baltic states

Take note – story published 5 years ago

A new report from the U.S. based RAND Corporation think-tank takes a look at "Russian-language content on social media and the broader propaganda threat posed to the region of former Soviet states that include Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, and, to a lesser extent, Moldova and Belarus."

"Russia employs a sophisticated social media campaign that includes news tweets, nonattributed comments on web pages, troll and bot social media accounts, and fake hashtag and Twitter campaigns," the introduction to the study says.

Its key conclusions are: 

  • In the Baltics, Ukraine, and other nearby states, the Kremlin aims to drive wedges between ethnic Russian or Russian-speaking populations and their host governments, NATO, and the European Union
  • Farther abroad, the Kremlin attempts to achieve policy paralysis by sowing confusion, stoking fears, and eroding trust in Western and democratic institutions.

If you would like to read and judge the validity of the findings for yourself, the study is available at the RAND Corporation's website

 

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