FACING THE RUSSIAN SCHOOL OF SOFT POWER

This article addresses the nature of the use of influence operations by the federal government of the Russian Federation’s as well as ways for detecting and countering such operations. This has been done via a qualitative study of the concept, the Russian government’s use, and principles for countering influence operations. The article concludes that the operations appear to be guided by a coercive reimagining of the concept of soft power. It also argues for the need to address the operations on multiple interconnected levels that include the promotion of transparent and responsive communication.