Putin’s Propaganda Machine: Soft Power and Russian Foreign Policy

Putin's Propaganda Machine examines Russia's "information war," one of the most striking features of its intervention in Ukraine. Marcel H. Van Herpen argues that the Kremlin's propaganda offensive is a carefully prepared strategy, implemented and tested over the last decade. Initially intended as a tool to enhance Russia's soft power, it quickly developed into one of the main instruments of Russia's new imperialism, reminiscent of the height of the Cold War. Van Herpen demonstrates that the Kremlin's propaganda machine not only plays a central role in its "hybrid war" in Ukraine, but also has broader geopolitical objectives intended to roll back the influence of NATO and the United States in Europe. Drawing on years of research, Van Herpen shows how the Kremlin built a multitude of soft power instruments and transformed them into effective weapons in a new information war with the West.