Storying Strategies in Russian Information Warfare Against Sweden: The Post-Ukraine War Narratives

Inter-state warfare increasingly exploits the reach and ubiquity of information technology, digital communications, and social media, employing strategies of information warfare (IW) capable of undermining democratic systems and causing destabilization through phenomena such as polarization. This paper aims to investigate the IW strategies used by the Russian state against Sweden in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. To do so, it employs an interpretivist narrative analysis, considering the thematic nature of the various antagonistic plots, or groups of plots, communicated by Russia. The authors collected data from the Russian media channel RT (formerly Russia Today) on articles concerning Sweden in the period following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, to identify sub- and main plots, and to determine the development of strategies based on these plots. Results identify a new strategy not previously identified in literature, that of exploitation, and several sub-plots contributing to a narrative in which Sweden is responsible for the failing security situation in Europe. While the authors’ source of data and sample size is limited and, as such, the results may not be generalized to other countries or regions, the methodology applied here can be further validated across a greater number of sources. This study contributes by building upon the growing body of literature on IW and security within the international relations context.