Exporting Russian disinformation : A comparative study of the effect of Russian propaganda and informal politics on the politics of Central and Eastern Europe, based on the examples of Ukraine, Finland and Germany

In this research I am going to target an important topic of media influence and propaganda. In this research, my goal is to identify and analyze the main strategies of Russian disinformation and propaganda actions and how do they affect the politics of the aforementioned countries under review. At the same time, I will go into the analysis of the Russian internal framework and how do polittechnologies and informal policies at home set a narrative, which is built to support the flywheel of propaganda. Generally, during the course of my thesis, I`ll target four main topics. The phenomenon of Russian informal politics and media propaganda, main channels and approaches existing in the field of informational warfare, the importance and relevance in the modern world of such concepts as hybrid warfare and the politics of disinformation, in order to demonstrate how the export of Russian disinformation and propaganda shape the politics of Ukraine, Finland and Germany. The period under review is 2014-2018. I see the main significance of my research in its relevance. The events and political technologies, which are going to be discussed in my dissertation, have occurred very recently and are still happening, what makes them very relevant for the contemporary studies. I hope that this research can bring a significant input into the study of informal politics and propaganda, demonstrate the experience of the countries under review and expand on the potential political decisions against Russian disinformation strategies both by the measures of politics and media policies. The selection of countries aims to represent different aspects of the Russian political technologies, specific for each of the aforementioned region. Ukraine, Finland and Germany belong to different geographic regions, have different mentalities, and thus experience heterogeneous effects of Russian propaganda and political influence. The dissertation is going to be conducted through the research-based method, including articles and databases produced in 2014-18 in the aforementioned region and specific literature on the subject. The methodology of my research is going to consist of analysis of the politics, party building, social media, elections and activity of the private and governmental organisations in the region under review. The language of the publications used in my research include English, Russian, Ukrainian and German. My analysis is supported by the relevant images and graphs, which are set to support my argument where it is going to be necessary. Main conclusion, which can be drawn from this thesis, is that nowadays, Russian disinformation is a very topical and important subject. The strategies of influence in their majority are not new, but they are evolving, same as the informal and hybrid warfare, unleashed in 2014. Taking into the account the slice of the literature and media publications, analyzed in this thesis, it is possible to argue that the threat will continue. It is also possible to argue that the channels of this influence are likely to remain the same as those, discussed in this thesis