National Image, Hybrid Warfare and Intellectual Warfare: Evolution and Disclosure of the Russian Concept of Soft Power

Abstract

After almost 20 years of rivalry with the United States and the West, the Russian concept of “soft power” has moved beyond the traditional building of a national image and public diplomacy based on such concepts as “exercising goodwill” and “search for common ground”, and has expanded its connotation, turning it from an “auxiliary tool of diplomacy” into an important part of “mental warfare” and “hybrid warfare”. In recent years, Russia, using such methods as mutually reinforcing the influence of traditional media and new types of media, closely integrating secret intelligence into the propaganda work of public media, and covertly infiltrating online media, has effectively intervened in the information war and the struggle for public opinion, associated with events such as the Ukrainian crisis, the US elections and the coronavirus epidemic, where, despite the existing structural shortcomings, it achieved striking results and significant breakthroughs. In the 2022 Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the United States and the West countries have launched a series of longplanned combinations of propaganda warfare. The tactics of widespread vilification, suppression, and sanctions have reached unprecedented intensity. Russia’s former effective mix of opinion-fighting and hybrid warfare has been hacked and destroyed in recent years, and its soft power has been dealt a heavy blow. Further evolution of the concept of soft power reflects the Russian leadership’s understanding of the cruelty and complexity of ideological confrontation and political struggle in the modern world. Its experience and lessons in the construction and application of soft power deserve in-depth study and attention.