Russia's War Against Ukraine
OP-ED
Pomerantsev and Weiss: How the Kremlin weaponizes information, culture and money
An employee wipes a TV screen in a shop in Moscow, on April 17, 2014, during the broadcast of President Vladimir Putin's televised question and answer session with the nation.
In recent years, the Kremlin has made much use of information warfare, gaining support in the West from nostalgic communist fellow travelers, the rising far-right and conspiracy theorists. The rebranding today of the international branches of Russia's state-owned Rossiya Segodnya (Russia Today) news group as Sputnik International speaks of the Kremlin's intent to influence and manipulate opinion abroad. Russian state-owned or state-controlled media also serve to distribute disinformation, including outright lies, as best exemplified by fabricated reports of the crucifixion of a child by Ukrainian forces.
