"This paper sets out how Russia built up its disinformation campaign, by analyzing what was said and comparing it with what was done. Using open source and social media intelligence (OSSMINT), it exposes the false claims that Russia targeted ISIS or defeated international terrorism. It reveals that, ... far from being a partner in the fight against ISIS, Russia in fact acted as a party to the civil war in Syria, fighting for Assad and against the armed groups—especially those backed by the United States—that oppose both the Syrian leader and ISIS. This study concludes that Putin’s policy was to distract, deceive, and destroy. The buildup to the Russian air strikes distracted Western and Russian attention from Putin’s Ukrainian operations and the buildup of his forces in Syria. The official campaign reports deceived the world about the mission’s true targets and goals. The operation destroyed the capabilities of the only credible non-jihadist alternative to Assad’s regime, including those elements directly backed by the West. This fits a pattern of behavior already played out in Ukraine. It can be used as a template to predict, examine, and judge his future actions." (Executive summary, page 3) more

"With well-organised and far-reaching weapons of information Russia has succeeded in sowing doubt about the need for democratic values and is therefore also undermining faith in democratic countries, weakening it. Russia government uses lies, concealment, and the manipulation of anything that can se ... rve their purpose—to turn citizens toward the ‘preferred’ direction. We are now faced with new and cunning forms of propaganda; a go-to source of information may turn out to be a false news outlet or a false Facebook ‘friend’. In the new information age, where borders between media fact and fiction are blurred, agents of propaganda seek to access citizens with messages presented in formats that discourage critical thinking. The main objectives of such attacks are to undermine democratic values—tolerance, minority rights, freedom of expression, the rule of law, and also loyalty to one’s country. In this war, democratic states are faced with unprecedented difficulties; in order to protect themselves they cannot fight the enemy using the same weapons the enemy uses, because then democracy would be no different than authoritarian rule. Democracies must choose mechanisms to counter hostile propaganda that comply with the rule of law and our fundamental values. This is difficult, but not impossible. In this publication, we have collected a number of expert opinions on what national governments, the EU, relevant institutions, and the media can do to win this war for the hearts and minds of the people." (Foreword) more