No. 299: Ideological and Conspiratorial Underpinnings of Russia's War Against Ukraine

Author(s): Sharon Werning Rivera, Julian G. Waller, Scott Radnitz, Daria Khlevnyuk
Series Editor(s): Stephen Aris, Fabian Burkhardt, Matthias Neumann, Robert Orttung, Jeronim Perović, Heiko Pleines, Hans-Henning Schröder, Aglaya Snetkov
Series: Russian Analytical Digest (RAD)
Issue: 299
Publisher(s): Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zürich; Research Centre for East European Studies (FSO), University of Bremen; Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES), George Washington University; Center for Eastern European Studies (CEES), University of Zurich; German Association for East European Studies (DGO)
Publication Year: 2023

This issue deals with the ideological and conspiratorial underpinnings of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Using data from the Survey of Russian Elites 1993-2020, Sharon Rivera highlights attitudinal similarities and differences between Putin and the broader elite. Julian Waller illustrates the comprehensive use of illiberal rhetoric by the Russian elite. Scott Radnitz explains the role conspiratorial propaganda has played in the war, highlighting the Kremlin’s aims of persuasion, signaling, and confusion. And Daria Khlevnyuk discusses the alignment between conspiracy theories about the dissolution of the USSR among the “old left” and Russian state propaganda.

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