Russia’s influence and ability to shape perceptions
of Moscow appear to be waning across the former
Soviet republics of Central Asia and the Southern
Caucasus (Armenia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and
Georgia,). That despite concerted attempts to sway
Authors
public opinion through a campaign of information
operations (IO) in this Russian-speaking part of
the world. This paper examines how Russia seeks
to shape public discourse and the information
landscape in the region via its penetration of local,
national, and global news, along with social media,
and popular messaging apps like Telegram.