Russian Federation in Global Knowledge Warfare : Influence Operations in Europe and Its Neighbourhood

This book examines Russian influence operations globally, in Europe, and in Russia’s neighboring countries, and provides a comprehensive overview of the latest technologies and forms of strategic communication employed in hybrid warfare. Given the growing importance of comprehensive information warfare as a new and rapidly advancing type of international conflict in which knowledge is a primary target, the book examines Russia’s role in Global Knowledge Warfare.

The content is divided into three parts, the first of which addresses conceptual issues such as the logic of information warfare, the role of synthetic media, and Russia’s foreign policy concepts, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on influence operations. The second part analyzes technological, legal and strategic challenges in modern hybrid warfare, while the third focuses on textual, cultural and historical patterns in information warfare, also from various regional (e.g. the Western Balkans, Romania, Ukraine, and the Baltic) perspectives. The book is primarily intended for scholars in the fields of international relations, security and the military sciences who are interested in Russian foreign policy and influence operations, but also their impact on the global security environment.

Dr. Holger Mölder is Associate Professor of International Relations at Tallinn University of Technology, whose academic activities focus on various international security issues. His main research interests and publications cover cooperative security issues, political cultures, influence and information operations, conspiracy theories and psychological warfare. 

Dr. Vladimir Sazonov is Senior Research Fellow at the Estonian Military Academy and Associate Professor at the University of Tartu’s Centre for Oriental Studies and Research Fellow at the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences. He has published extensively on Russian state ideology, propaganda, Middle Eastern history, politics, and security.  

Dr. Archil Chochia is Senior Researcher at TalTech Law School, part of Tallinn University of Technology. He has more than 80 academic publications to his credit and is a co-editor of the books “Political and Legal Perspectives of the EU Eastern Partnership Policy” (Springer, 2016) and “Brexit: History, Reasoning and Perspectives” (Springer, 2018). 

Dr. Tanel Kerikmäe is Full Professor of Law and Director of TalTech Law School (Estonia). His recent research areas concern artificial intelligence and law and other law and tech issues. Prof. Kerikmäe has edited several books published by Springer, Ashgate, Kluwer, Oxford and Cambridge publishers.