False Mirrors: The Weaponization of Social Media in Russia's Operation to Annex Crimea

In his timely study, Andrii Demartino investigates the multitude of techniques how social media can be used to advance an aggressive foreign policy, as exemplified by the Russian Federation's operation to annex Crimea in 2014. Drawing on a wide range of sources, Demartino traces the implementation of a series of Russian measures to create channels and organisations manipulating public opinion in the Ukrainian segment of the internet and on platforms such as Facebook, VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, LiveJournal, and Twitter. Addressing the pertinent question of how much the operation to annex Crimea was either improvised or planned, he draws attention to Russia's ad-hoc actions in the sphere of social media in 2014. Based on an in-depth analysis of the methods of Russia's influence operations, the book proposes a number of counterstrategies to prevent such active measures. These propositions can serve to improve Ukraine's national information policy as well as help to develop adequate security concepts of other states.

Autorentext

The author: Dr. Andrii Demartino studied history and government at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, National Academy of Public Administration under the President of Ukraine, and V. M. Koretsky Institute of State and Law in Kyiv. Since 2019, Demartino has been Head of Strategic Planning and Analysis in the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine. Previously, he worked for the Ukrainian Presidential Administration, Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, as well as for the Prosecutor General's Office. He was also an advisor to First Vice-Prime Minister of Ukraine, Oleksandr Turchynov, as well as Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea Anatolii Mohyliov. Demartino is co-author of the book The Victory of the Impossible Over the Unacceptable (Samit-Knyha 2017). The author of the foreword: Oleksiy Danilov is Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine.