Special Services

The psychological-information warfare conducted by the Russian Federation is totally subordinated to the pursuit by the Kremlin of its strategic interests. Hence, the planning, execution and supervision of these information warfare efforts is entrusted to the Russian intelligence and security services given their capabilities, experience, resources and an aggressive mindset.

One of the Kremlin’s prime goals is to shape the perception of Russia, its politics, role, and might as well as the perception of other countries, events, processes, and relationships in the way that corresponds with the vision designed and expected by the Kremlin. This is the very reason why the Western community is subjected to a constant hostile influence exerted by Russian propaganda ecosystem.

The tools of exercising this influence include media outlets and platforms, think-tanks, organizations, etc. created, run or controlled by the Russian intelligence and security services. Their communications and activities are carried out in many foreign languages - especially English - and their names, logos, the look and feel of their websites, their location outside Russia, and the involvement in their activities of people of Western origin (be it real or fake) allow them to pose as entities participating in a fair, independent, knowledge-based and authoritative public debate that meets democratic standards. In fact, these entities shape and influence that debate in line with the Kremlin’s interests, by consistently infesting the information space of the free world. The variety of forms and a web-like structure of this ecosystem allow Russia to diversify these efforts, legitimize its lies and adapt its strategies to selected goals, thus achieving a better efficiency.

In this report we present the characteristics and features of a selection of outlets designed, developed and operated by the Russian regime – with the predominant role of intelligence and security services – that repeatedly infect the public debate in the West with lies and weaponized narratives.

Stanisław Żaryn, Government Plenipotentiary fot the Security of Information Space of the Republic of Poland