Soviet and Russian Disinformation - reading references

• Reading list

The Council Library has launched a series of reading lists that are intended to provide an overview of disinformation research for those of you who either work in policy areas impacted by ongoing disinformation campaigns, or who are being exposed to disinformation in information and communication media. The aim is to help build resilience by extending your knowledge of the topic.

This list has been prepared for those who are already familiar with the concept of disinformation and would like to dive deeper into the origins and characteristics of Russian disinformation.

Although deception is arguably as old as conflict and war, it was in the Soviet Union under Stalin that disinformation first became operationalised and a discipline in its own right. It is therefore generally understood, though often understated, that contemporary Russian disinformation operations are largely influenced and inspired by the historical Soviet disinformation doctrine. That is why a detailed understanding of how Soviet disinformation operations were conceived and executed is the ultimate key to an accurate interpretation of the disinformation campaigns launched against Western audiences by the Russian Federation under Vladimir V. Putin.

Disinformation was indeed extensively used by Soviet Russia during the Cold War and even before that. After the demise of the Soviet Union, Western governments believed that the threat of disinformation would die off with the KGB. However, active measures and disinformation operations actually went on uninterrupted throughout that post-Cold War period, and have continued into Putin's illiberal Russia as an integral part of its foreign policy.

This list is not exhaustive. Additional materials can be found in Eureka, the online catalogue of the Council libraries.

We invite you to consult our previous posts on disinformation in case you have missed them:

What is disinformation?

Find factual information about the Coronavirus (COVID-19)

This post does not necessarily represent the positions, policies, or opinions of the Council of the European Union or the European Council.

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