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It’s also important to win the information war with Putin’s Russia

by Ivana Stradner, Opinion Contributor - 04/07/22 12:00 PM ET

The Russian ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, accuses the West of plotting “an information war on Russia.” If only he were right.

As Russia’s war in Ukraine continues, Vladimir Putin is attempting to ban the free flow of information within Russia, clearly concerned about domestic opposition to his war. This sign of weakness is an opportunity for the West and for the United States, in particular.

During the run-up to the invasion, the Biden administration skillfully declassified intelligence to alert the world to Russia’s military designs on Ukraine and to preempt Russian information operations. That information war should never have ended. Washington needs to invest in countering the Kremlin’s fictitious narrative about Ukraine, both by drawing on Cold War-style lessons and by developing strategies and tools tailored for the 21st century environment.

The first step is to understand the lay of the land in Russia. Since the war began, Putin has shuttered what was left of Russia’s independent media and restricted Russians’ access to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and various Western news agencies. The Russian government plans to cut Russia off from the global internet and use the homegrown “Ru-Net” instead. On March 4, the Russian leader signed a law threatening prison time for deviating from the Kremlin’s talking points on the war or Russia’s. military. This sweeping law has had a chilling effect on independent international coverage in Russia, prompting outlets to shut down for fear of their journalists being arrested.

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Confronting Putin’s censorship in the present starts with learning from the past. During the Cold War, the U.S. government’s success in identifying and combating propaganda helped defeat the Soviet Union. Government-sponsored Voice of America and Radio Free Europe pierced the Iron Curtain to promote freedom, providing a link to the outside world and a clandestine source of truth and hope. The United States should more aggressively leverage these existing tools to facilitate the free flow of information. In cases where Western media outlets are banned, old-fashioned Cold War-era tools such as radio may be worth revisiting. In fact, the BBC, which Moscow blocked earlier this month, has brought back its shortwave radio service to broadcast news to Ukraine and Russia. Within Russia itself, people are using emojis to organize protests while avoiding the government censors. Let’s help them.

U.S. information efforts also must leverage innovative strategies to engage with younger audiences and circumvent 21st century censorship. For example, banned media platforms should make themselves accessible via encrypted web browsers and share a list of available VPNs that can be used to access Western media. With many young pro-Western Russians now leaving the country, encouraging their engagement with Russians still in the country via social media platforms may be equally useful. The “Call Russia” is facilitating such action on a larger scale by connecting Russian speakers abroad with one of 40 million Russian phone numbers so that they can provide news about Ukraine.

In addition, although the Kremlin has banned social media platforms for its own citizens, Russian government officials still use those platforms to spread disinformation. Deletion from social media might be a bridge too far, but in addition to labeling Russian handles as state-run accounts, social media platforms should put warning labels on their content and adjust algorithms to suppress their content, as Twitter did this week.

Winning the information war will require creativity. The White House briefed TikTok influencers about the war in Ukraine to spread information about Russian aggression. While the somewhat awkward situation drew eye rolls, the administration deserves credit for thinking outside the box. Chinese-owned Tik Tok remains one of the last foreign social media platforms available within Russia, but it is censoring content. The Biden administration could do the same thing and brief users on popular Russian media such as Telegram and VKontakte. The United States should invest in helping Western and Russian-speaking social media influencers who live abroad spread the truth to Russians.

It’s clear that the Biden administration understands that it must confront Russia on the psychological and informational battlefield. But the U.S. government needs to retool and systematize its efforts and up its hearts and minds game. There is no better moment than now.

Ivana Stradner serves as an adviser to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where her research focuses on Russia’s information operations and cybersecurity, particularly Russia’s use of advanced forms of hybrid warfare.