The experts of the Center of Russian studies (Denis Bohush and Alexandra Baglai) took part in the conference “Russia's (Dis-) Information activities against Ukraine: the Battle of Narratives” in Vilnius on November, 22nd 2016. (http://www.stratcomcoe.org/russias-dis-information-activities-against-ukraine-battle-narratives). It was organized by NATO StratСom COE.
Our experts presented the results of the research “Russian Propaganda Concerning Ukraine during the Syrian Campaign: an Innovative Approach to Assess Information Activities” (http://www.stratcomcoe.org/russian-propaganda-concerning-ukraine-during-syrian-campaign-innovative-approach-assess-information).
This report represented the results of information sources’ monitoring, their analysis, methodology and appropriate recommendations. Not only standard methods of informational activities (quantitative and narrative analysis) were used here, but also the proprietary methodology of qualitative context analysis - The Bohush Pyramide of Influence method (http://www.slideshare.net/DenisBohush/russian-propaganda-denis-bohush-vilnius-2016).
This methodology provides the division of target audiences on 4 levels: the first level– the most mass one, which is about emotions, shock and fear; the second level – the rational one, which gives argumentations; the third level – semantic, which is created for educated people and is inculcated by historical manipulations; the fourth level– identical and cultural.
What is more, this conference included discussion of NATO StratСom’s research of the Russian influence against Ukraine and West, which has been taking place during the last 3 years. This research suggests that Russia uses different tools and methods. They are both direct and indirect and are used by a great number of actors and channels. As a conclusion, this Russian informational activity affects not only Ukrainian national security, but also interests of western countries.