The Russia connectionTracking and reacting to Russian attacks on democracy
Last week, a U.S. government report outlined attacks made by Russian President Vladimir Putin on democratic institutions over nearly two decades. The report details the many ways in which the Russian government has combined Soviet-era approaches with today’s technological tools. Princeton’s Jacob Shapiro says: “While not a revelation to people who have been following the issue, the depth and intensity of Russian efforts against America’s allies in Europe are striking and well-documented in the report. While some may argue that turnabout is fair play insofar as the United States and its European allies have been aggressively pushing their vision of governance inside Russia and its allies for decades, those efforts have taken place in the context of institutions that abide by widely accepted legal norms. What is striking about the Russian effort is the extent to which it employed actors and approaches that clearly and routinely transgress Russian, international, and domestic laws in the places they operate. To me, the extralegal nature of Russian influence efforts was just striking.”
Last week, a U.S. government report outlined attacks made by Russian President Vladimir Putin on democratic institutions over nearly two decades (see “Report details two decades of Putin’s attacks on democracy, U.S. vulnerability to Kremlin’s interference,” HSNW, 11 January 2018)
The report, commissioned by U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Maryland) and released by Democratic staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, details the many ways in which the Russian government has combined Soviet-era approaches with today’s technological tools.
B. Rose Kelly of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairsdiscussedthe report, its findings, and recommendations with Jacob Shapiro, professor of politicsand international affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Shapiro, who co-directs the Empirical Studies of Conflict Project, studies political violence, economic and political development in conflict zones, and security policy.
B. Rose Kelly: What are some of the biggest revelations in the report?
Jacob Shapiro: While not a revelation to people who have been following the issue, the depth and intensity of Russian efforts against America’s allies in Europe are striking and well-documented in the report. While some may argue that turnabout is fair play insofar as the United States and its European allies have been aggressively pushing their vision of governance inside Russia and its allies for decades, those efforts have taken place in the context of institutions that abide by widely accepted legal norms. What is striking about the Russian effort is the extent to which it employed actors and approaches that clearly and routinely transgress Russian, international, and domestic laws in the places they operate. To me, the extralegal nature of Russian influence efforts was just striking.
The second revelation is just how vulnerable mainstream social media platforms were to Russian efforts. It is not surprising that fake accounts could readily be created and go undetected on minor fora, but when core social infrastructures such as Facebook are being suborned by foreign governments with little cost for creating the false identities — that is a problem.
