Russian Italy on hybrid wars? The case of Russian comedians and beyond
Communication can be a form of warfare by other means. The analysis of Francesco D'Arrigo, director of the Italian Institute of Strategic Studies “Niccolò Machiavelli”
The case of the phone call of two well-known Russian "comedians" (?) , Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov, aka Vovan and Lexus, who deceived Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, has created great concern because it is clear, extremely clear, that behind the apparent jocularity with which an attempt is made to downplay the event which damaged the credibility of the entire security apparatus of Palazzo Chigi, the shadow of a hostile operation by Moscow's secret services is revealed, which continually attempts to destabilize Italy.
In the long telephone conversation, kept hidden for several weeks and only partially published at the moment, (will there be a second episode?), in which Prime Minister Meloni thought he was speaking with the leader of the African Union, the two alleged "comedians ” they managed to divert the conversation with the prime minister from Africa to the war in Ukraine, making her express opinions on Western sanctions against Russia, on the blockade of Russian banks and on the evolution of the conflict.
The Russian duo Vovan and Lexus, which entered into activity at the end of 2014 following the Russian invasion of the Ukrainian territories of Donbass and Crimea, became famous for their telephone calls to various international political figures and leaders, always focusing their conversations on their obsession: Ukraine. To gain credit with the staff of their chosen victims, from time to time they assumed various false identities, posing as well-known figures, such as Petro Poroshenko and Arsenly Yatsenyuk, as Arsen Avakov, managing to deceive leaders such as the former president of Moldova Timofti, the US general McNeely, the president of Turkey Erdogan, that of North Macedonia, Zoran Zaev, and partly also the former Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel.
However, they were unmasked in 2020, when they even posed as Greta Thunberg and her father, managing to speak with the Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau. The subject of that phone call was the results of the investigation conducted by the Canadian government into Ukraine International Airlines flight 752, shot down in Ukrainian airspace in the early hours of January 8, 2020, after taking off from Tehran airport. The two "bloggers" attempted to dispute the results of the investigation into the disaster, caused by the launch of two Iranian missiles, supporting the hypothesis propagated by pro-Russian separatists who accused the Ukrainian army of having shot down the plane. In that phone call they also attempted, without success, to provoke the Canadian prime minister to declare himself dissatisfied with NATO, which was expanding into Eastern Europe.
Communication is war by other means
Regardless of the content of the statements made by PdCM Meloni to the two Russian impostors, which certainly deserve an in-depth political analysis, the combination of the damage to the credibility of Palazzo Chigi's security and diplomatic infrastructure caused by this event immediately achieved extremely positive repercussions for the Kremlin and for Hamas, causing the resignation of Palazzo Chigi's diplomatic advisor Francesco Maria Talò (in the photo). Ambassador rank, the highest level one can reach in a diplomatic career. Between 2017 and 2019, Talò was responsible for cyber security at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and coordinator of the OSCE Conference for the fight against anti-Semitism. Since 2019 he has been the permanent representative of the Italian delegation to NATO in Brussels and responsible for the dossier on Ukraine and the future of the Atlantic Alliance.
These are the first effects caused by the PdCM's phone call with 2 Russian subjects, defined as "comedians" by our media who instead should be considered as elements forming part of the ecosystem of " active measures " and methods of Russian political and economic warfare. “Agents” integrated into Russia's strategy which uses sources of disinformation and propaganda in a multifaceted way. Through the manipulation of official statements by opposing leaders, state-funded media, proxy websites, bots, fake personas, and cyber-enabled social media disinformation operations, Russian intelligence services launch attacks against institutional figures and political leaders to harm Enemy countries, including Italy.
The Russian Federation, as well as the Hamas terrorists and their allies, will not be able to win the wars they have unleashed, but they are capable of creating tension and chaos thanks to an effective "strategic communication" structure. Through a formidable campaign of propaganda and threats to terrorize the West (nuclear war, brutal massacres of women and children spread on social platforms), they have created the basis for exploiting the multiplier effect of the media, creating real storms of misinformation with dangerous and destabilizing effects at international, national and local levels.
When you think of wars, you think above all of fighting and the loss of human lives, but even in the most ferocious wars such as those unleashed in Ukraine and Israel, there is always a part of soft-power that plays a fundamental role: communication .
Communication also represents a fundamental cog for the complex system of security, defense and military operations. As Russia, North Korea and Germany demonstrated during the Second World War, constituting the best propaganda machines in history. And how the effectiveness of the communication strategy of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky masterfully demonstrated, following the Russian aggression. Communicative effectiveness that Israel and its Prime Minister Netanyahu are failing to express after the barbaric attack launched by Hamas terrorists on 7 October, which is causing strong and conflicting reactions in public opinion, in the face of the Hamas media campaign which has triggered a impressive resurgence of anti-Semitism on a global level.
What is strategic communication?
National strategic communications, such as those expressed by the Prime Minister, are a fundamental pillar of a state's national security.
Strategic communication is an umbrella term to describe the activities of disciplines that include public relations, international affairs, national security, management communication, advertising, domestic and foreign information.
For a Government, communication represents "public diplomacy", that is, a real strategic program to inform and involve its public opinion and at the same time influence those of other countries, markets and investors. As such, it defines the ability of Governments and all organizations belonging to the State – companies, public media, NGOs, schools and universities, to engage in communication aimed at countering the influence, disinformation and malicious propaganda of hostile actors.
Consistently, the role to be assigned to strategic communications should be equal to the other main political functions of the Government – in parallel with international diplomatic policies, Defense policies and military effort to support alliances, national security policies to protect our institutions, political, economic and social stability of the country. This is the approach to correctly position strategic communication as one of the main soft power assets that the State should pursue, especially in periods of widespread wars and large geopolitical upheavals, such as the current one. However, despite its vital importance, both the human and economic resources invested by the Government in this field are far from adequate and evidently not up to the task of dealing with hybrid threats. At the same time, the problems of strategic communication in Italy cannot be attributed only to the lack of resources: there are other cultural reasons, of perception and cognition of risks and threats, of professionalism and values. If strategic communications are truly a key component of national security, then they must be structured accordingly.
Strategic communication and protective intelligence
It would be interesting to know the activities that lie behind the undoubted abilities of transformation, metamorphosis and identity theft of famous people (typical of intelligence service agents), and the methods that allowed the two Russian "Leopards" to approach and deceive the staff of Palazzo Chigi and even to be called back by our prime minister, without all this having alerted our intelligence apparatus.
The ease of penetration of Palazzo Chigi is of concern, as if there was an underestimation of the current geopolitical scenario and objective problems in the protection system of the Prime Minister, which highlight the need to urgently adapt the policies for the security of communications of institutional personalities and the high state bureaucracy.
What use are the Agencies that on paper should protect national interests in the field of cyber security, when they don't even check the emails or telephone numbers of those who contact the Prime Minister in what should be the most monitored office in the country?
What type of measures have been taken to counter the growing number of cyber attacks, hybrid "below threshold" actions and information or disinformation campaigns against institutional personalities, implemented by irregular militias, non-state actors such as the two alleged "comedians", or by Hostile countries?
The development and rapid diffusion of new technologies, while on the one hand appearing to facilitate communication through various social platforms, on the other represents a major obstacle to the Government's ability to engage in strategic communication that is consistent with its long-term objectives. term. The competition, infiltrations and interferences carried out through the information environment significantly broaden the concept of threat to national security, generating difficulties in drawing a clear line of demarcation between communication via social media and the risks of manipulation of images and voices for alterations. deepfake or, simply, to realize that one is involved in a war, due to the growing complexity of a global and digital society permanently under attack, even if invisible and at low intensity.
The current government, like its predecessors, is struggling to adapt its geopolitical structure with strategic communication, not only to internal needs but also to the pitfalls posed by 21st century technologies. Although it is difficult for many to digest the term, for some time we have been involved in the first global info-warfare in history – however unconventional and irregular it may be.
We live in an era of emails, blogs, apps, smartphones, social media, instant messaging, the global internet, the uninhibited dark web, portable video cameras, live streaming, encrypted chat, 24-hour news, satellite communications, which allow forms of espionage and attack that were previously available exclusively to states are now within everyone's reach.
Never before has there been an information war fought with no holds barred in a global context. And the difficulty of our institutions in understanding and dealing with this situation is evident.
The "accident" that our prime minister encountered highlights the importance of using intelligence information also for communication purposes. It is essential to establish and strengthen mechanisms that allow the identification and "legitimization" of such information that is relevant for the Prime Minister, for diplomacy, for relations with allies and above all with adversary states.
The geopolitical context would require raising the level of guard and implementing threat assessment and protective intelligence policies, i.e. a process of collecting and evaluating information on organizations and people who may have the interest, motive, intention and ability to carry out attacks, including information attacks, against public figures and state officials.
Just as we proceed with the physical protection of institutional personalities (escorts), advanced countermeasures should be used to minimize cyber vulnerabilities and respond decisively to threats and attacks against members of the Government and Institutions.
A protective intelligence program and systems capable of identifying and preventing actors with the means and interest to attack institutional personalities from reaching, monitoring, spying on or launching an attack like the one carried out by the two Russian "comedians" (?) against the president of the Meloni Council.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/telefonata-comici-russi-comunicazione-guerra-ibrida/ on Sun, 05 Nov 2023 06:49:40 +0000.