Since invading Ukraine, Russia’s information efforts have been less effective.
Russia alleged that a Ukrainian roadside bomb killed three civilians in separatist-held eastern Ukraine just before the invasion. Since then, Russia has made implausible claims that the Ukrainians did not destroy the cruiser Moskva, the former flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. Russian information efforts are floundering due to a paucity of available resources. The invasion of Ukraine has shown that the Russian military is less professional than previously believed. Western countries often do better in information warfare when they speak the truth, and the current situation does not suit Russia.
Lautman asserts that since Russia’s war on Ukraine in late February, its information efforts have been weaker than in the past. The New York Times uncovered Russia’s fabrications of the slaughter of Ukrainian residents in the Kyiv neighborhood of Bucha. She asserts that Russia’s propaganda operation will remain ineffective so long as media coverage continues. “Its purpose is to contaminate the information space with so much deception that no one can find the truth.”
