Russia’s Hybrid Interference Campaigns in France, Germany and the UK: A Challenge against Trust in Liberal Democracies?

ABSTRACT This article examines the Russian government’s use of the cyber and information domains as arenas to challenge liberal democracies. Previous studies have examined the technical or military-strategic aspects of Russian cyber activity or (dis)information. This article builds on these efforts and extends the scope of analysis to examine the socio-political challenges of Russian ‘hybrid interference’ for liberal Western democracies such as France, Germany and the UK. Our case studies highlight Russia’s growing use of cyber operations combined with (dis)information to foment or exacerbate tensions between government and society and/or among different societal groups. Our findings suggest that while Russia utilises hybrid interference to create or augment inter-societal turbulence in the short-term, the longer-term effect might serve to erode horizontal and vertical trust in such societies.