Russian cyber strategy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA): Analysing the Kremlin's disinformation efforts amid 2022 invasion of Ukraine
International Master in Security, Intelligence and Strategic Studies (University of Glasgow, Dublin City University, Charles University)
How they used Delve
A student on the International Master in Security, Intelligence and Strategic Studies (University of Glasgow / Dublin City University / Charles University) used Delve to thematically code 98 of the most-retweeted tweets from RT Arabic and Sputnik Arabic in the first three months of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, identifying 36 topics and five themes in the Kremlin's disinformation aimed at the Middle East and North Africa.
“To analyse the data, the research adopted thematic analysis and utilised online qualitative data analysis software Delve. This method allowed the researcher to identify thirty-six topics discussed on Twitter and report five major themes in the social media content produced by the Kremlin-backed media outlets. The researcher transcribed the data collected on Twitter into a workable document/transcript that would be readable for the Delve software.”
- Field
- disinformation and information warfare; Russian strategy in MENA; security studies
- Data
- 98 most-retweeted tweets (58 from RT Arabic, 40 from Sputnik Arabic), 1 March–31 May 2022, selected with the TruthNest Twitter analytics application
- Approach
- Braun & Clarke (2006) six-phase thematic analysis; tweets compiled into a transcript document for coding in Delve; 36 topics grouped into 5 themes
- Data types
- Social media
Abstract
Over-reliance on social media platforms for news in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) provides fertile ground for Russia to cultivate its image as a great power through Russian state-funded media channels such as RT Arabic and Sputnik Arabic. RT Arabic (formerly known as Russia Today) started operating in the developing countries of the Arabic-speaking Middle East as early as May 2007 (Jensen, 2018). Although disinformation has grown to be an important component of Russia’s strategic engagement in the MENA, the Kremlin’s information operations targeting the Arabic-speaking populations are still not thoroughly investigated in the literature. This study draws from the literature on Russia’s broader strategy in the MENA and brings emphasis to the information component of the strategy that has received little academic attention. Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine marked a further increase in Moscow’s Ukraine-related disinformation campaigns in the MENA, providing a new opportunity to assess Russia’s broader strategic goals in the region via gaining insights into the anatomy of the Kremlin’s information operations. In this light, Russia’s disinformation efforts in the MENA – the region that has traditionally been a battleground between great powers – have become a significant subject to study. This research aims to assess Russia’s disinformation strategy towards the MENA and analyse how Russia’s disinformation campaign amid its invasion of Ukraine fits into it.
Citation
Elene Janadze (2022). Russian cyber strategy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA): Analysing the Kremlin's disinformation efforts amid 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Charles University Digital Repository (dspace.cuni.cz).