History as a Component of the Information and Cognitive Warfare of the Russian Federation against Ukraine

Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine between 2014 and 2024 is also accompanied by non-military actions. Information warfare plays an important role in this segment of operations. History is a fundamental component of the information and cognitive warfare waged by Russia against Ukraine in support of military action. Russian propaganda intensively exploits historical issues as part of information warfare and cognitive warfare against Ukraine for two main purposes. The first is to prevent the formation of a consolidated nation-state in Ukraine with its own historical memory. The second is to justify the military war against Ukraine. The common denominator of the above actions of Russian propaganda is Vladimir Putin’s claim of Ukraine as a failed state. History shows that, contrary to assumptions, the President of the Russian Federation has obtained the opposite of the intended result in the form of a Ukrainian nation and state successfully resisting Russian aggression, including in the field of information and cognitive warfare.