Abstract
ABSTRACTThe rise of hybrid warfare has led the Russian government to actively develop its information warfare capabilities, including the weaponization of digital media. To garner the support of Russian speakers at home and abroad for its foreign policy endeavors, the Kremlin requires that state-backed media provide favorable and increasingly digitized coverage of Moscow’s initiatives in former Soviet territories. This study examines how the Kremlin developed its ability to weaponize Russian-language digital news media over the past decade. Employing quantitative and qualitative content analysis, it examines Russian-language digital news articles published by pro-Kremlin media outlets during two events — the 2008 Russo-Georgian War and the 2014 Crimean annexation. My results show that from 2008 to 2014 Moscow improved its ability to capitalize on the unrestricted publication space that digital news affords, with the 2014 content sample more thematically sophisticated and potentially more persuasive.
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