Wizeus > Religious Affairs
| Katriuk2012
| Video Links
| Perfidy
| Book Reviews
| Putin
Files >
Chatham House | 14Apr2016 | Orysia Lutsevych
Agents of the Russian World
Proxy Groups
in the Contested Neighbourhood
[... pdf ...]
Contents
Summary 2
Introduction 3
Soft Power the Russian Way 4
NGOs as Agents of Political Unrest 6
The Russian World: a Flexible Tool 8
Key Agents of the Russian World 10
Key Routes of Influence 14
The Ukraine Gambit 32
Assessing the Impact of Russia’s Proxy Groups 36
Conclusions 40
About the Author 42
Acknowledgments 43
Summary
• Anxious about losing ground to Western influence in the post-Soviet
space and the ousting of
many pro-Russia elites by popular electoral uprisings, the Kremlin has
developed a wide range
of proxy groups in support of its foreign policy objectives.
• This network of pro-Kremlin groups promotes the Russian World
(Russkiy Mir), a flexible tool
that justifies increasing Russian actions in the post-Soviet space and
beyond. Russian groups are
particularly active in Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova -- countries that
have declared their
intention to integrate with the West.
• Russia employs a vocabulary of ‘soft power’ to disguise its ‘soft
coercion’ efforts aimed at
retaining regional supremacy. Russian pseudo-NGOs undermine the social
cohesion of
neighbouring states through the consolidation of pro-Russian forces and
ethno-geopolitics; the
denigration of national identities; and the promotion of anti-US,
conservative Orthodox and
Eurasianist values. They can also establish alternative discourses to
confuse decision-making
where it is required, and act as destabilizing forces by uniting
paramilitary groups and spreading
aggressive propaganda.
• The activities of these proxy groups -- combined with the extensive
Russian state administrative
resources and security apparatus, as well as the influence of the
Russian Orthodox Church, pro-
Russian elites, mass culture and the media -- could seriously damage
political transitions and
civil societies in the region. Events in Crimea and Donbas have exposed
the supportive role of
Russian non-state actors in fomenting conflict.
• In the medium term, the contest for the ‘hearts and minds’ of
citizens will persist, with the scale
and outreach of anti-Western groups continuing to testify to the
presence of active networks of
genuine believers within this new Russian World. However, greater
transparency and deeper
engagement with citizens as part of independent civil society
organizations could bridge
opposing views and help counter the challenge of artificial divisions
nurtured by the Kremlin-funded
non-state actors.
[... pdf ...]