Domestic depiction of Russia's foreign information operations

Abstract

Domestic depiction of Russia's foreign information operations Abstract This research explores the issue of domestic depiction of Russia's foreign information operations through qualitative narrative analyses and aims to answer the research question: how Russia uses its foreign information operations to improve its domestic image and influence domestic audience? While the existing literature mostly addresses Russia's information operations from international perspective, this study tries to analyze the topic from domestic prism. The paper links foreign information operations with Russia's domestic objectives of reinforcing its great power image. For this end, the paper looks into the domestic context of Russia's information operations targeting the West and analyzes how these operations are converted into the internal narratives through state media channels. By analyzing the case study of Russian interference into the 2016 US presidential election, the research explores Kremlin's respective messages produced to influence the formation of the perception of Russian population and contribute to the narrative of depicting Russia as a great power, which consequently leads to broader political objective of Kremlin's power legitimation.