Russian information troops, disinformation, and democracy

This research examines the contemporary landscape relative to information-driven strategies used for global gain. With Russia functioning as a case of global democratic disruption (Blackwill and Gordon, 2018), this exploratory project studies documented information-based, computational, and media-related political strategies. The findings provide a way to see patterns in tactics suggesting 'hybrid' warfare or information warfare identified in recent literature. Our work has found several previously unknown centers of activity related to online propaganda, in locations near Russian military and security services installations. This aligns with and supports assertions that at least some of the Russian hacking is likely the work of state-sponsored Russian operatives. This work also allows readers to connect events in recent years in order to view them together and conceive an online hybrid war and Russia's potential role in those efforts. These findings provide scholars, practitioners, and citizens interested in democratic processes around the globe the opportunity to consider the many threats to contemporary political processes, and contributes to ongoing academic conversations about digital political disruptions and warfare.