Title: A guide to Russian propaganda. Part 5: Reflexive ControlEuromaidan Press | News and views from Ukraine
Headings: A guide to Russian propaganda. Part 5: Reflexive Control
A guide to Russian propaganda. Part 5: Reflexive Control
Examples of Reflexive control used in Russia’s war against Ukraine
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2020/03/26 - 20:30 • Featured, Hybrid War
While fake news and disinformation receive lots of attention nowadays, they are only part of Russia’s hybrid war, which is based on a Soviet secret technique of reflexive control. Using disinformation, cyber attacks, blackmail, provocations, fabrications, military deceptions, and other active measures, Russia creates a virtual reality that prompts its victims into making the political decisions Russia wants without suspecting they are being manipulated. Fake news and disinformation receive most of the attention of western security institutions when it comes to examining Russian meddling in democratic countries. What escapes the attention of many an analyst is that disinformation is only a small part of Russia’s toolbox of hybrid war, one of the manifestations of Active Measures, by which Russia seeks to rebuild its former empire and gain dominance over the West. Source: adapted from Ajir et al, “Russian Information Warfare & Implications for Deterrence Policy”
Russia’s strategy is based on a method called Reflexive control. The Soviet and Russian intelligence community have researched it for half a century. Reflexive Control is best known to the western public thanks to the works of Timothy Thomas. The theoretical basis for Reflexive control was laid down by Vladimir Lefebvre, a Russian researcher who developed Reflexive control as the Soviet answer to Game theory used in the USA for military purposes.