Online Workshop: Russian Media Influence in the US and Europe

It has become an established narrative in International Relations that Russia under President Putin operates with a Grand Strategy to undermine Western hegemony. This gave rise to the concern over systematic Russian interference in the US after the election of President Trump in 2016. This workshop presents ongoing research with empirical insights on Russian media influence in the US and Europe.

Elizaveta Kuznetsova, visiting scholar at the Center for the Study of Europe, will present her paper on Russia’s international TV network RT. Contrary to the claims of Russian Grand Strategy, Elizaveta argues that RT’s actions are driven by short-term tactics without an overarching goal behind its operations abroad. She will showcase how these methods of persuasion have emerged out of the Soviet kontrpropaganda tradition and guide the channel’s activities today. Amid ideological vacuum in Putin’s Russia, RT mainly attempts to ‘muddle through’ the changing political environment.

Heidi Erbsen, research fellow at the University of Tartu, will present her analysis of whether international news media are creating a common information space for Russian speaking groups in the European Union. She will address the idea of an imagined and heterogeneous information space for native-Russian speakers and conceptualize how individual media practices navigate and relate to more hegemonic international news media narratives.

The presentations will be followed by questions and discussion. Respondents include Pardee School faculty and affiliates Igor Lukes, Professor of History and International Relations, and Vesko Garčević, Professor of Practice of International Relations.