A Digital Counteroffensive: Outmaneuvering Russia’s Information War
Russia’s grueling war in Ukraine, now dragging into its fourth year, has left the Kremlin battered and overstretched. Yet, as the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) reveals in its June 2025 report , Russia’s Information Confrontation Doctrine in Practice (2014–Present), Moscow’s real weapon is not its faltering military but a shadowy digital arsenal: cyberattacks, psychological operations, and disinformation campaigns crafted to fracture democracies and project power. With Russia drained by its prolonged conflict, the West cannot rely on battlefield triumphs alone. To defeat the Kremlin, the Global West must outmatch it in the information domain, wielding hybrid warfare, artificial intelligence, aggressive infowar, and its own sophisticated psychological operations. This is the new front line, and the West must dominate it. Russia’s Digital Playbook Exposed Image: El PAIS The IISS report exposes Russia’s information confrontation doctrine as a relentless machine...