You may not be interested in Russia. But Russia is interested in you.
Russia's 2022 attack on Ukraine saw confrontation between Moscow and the West spill over into open conflict once again. But Russia has also been waging a clandestine war against the West for decades. Hostile acts abroad, from poisoning dissidents to shooting down airliners, interfering in elections, spying, hacking and murdering, have long seemed to be the Kremlin's daily business. But what is it all for? Why does Russia consistently behave like this? And what does it achieve?
In this book, Keir Giles explains how and why Russia pushes for more power and influence wherever it can reach, far beyond Ukraine – and what it means not just for governments, but for ordinary people. Bringing together stories from the military, politics, diplomacy, espionage, cyber power, organised crime and more, Giles describes how Moscow conducts its campaigns across the globe, and how nobody is too unimportant to be caught up in them. By lifting the lid on the daily struggle going on behind the scenes to protect governments, businesses, societies and people from Russian hostile activity, Russia's War On Everybody shows how Moscow's hostile intentions for the rest of the world are far broader and more ambitious, and the ways it tries to achieve them far more pervasive and damaging, than we realise.
Author(s): Keir Giles
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 264
City: London
Cover
Halftitle page
Title page
Copyright page
Dedication
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
PREFACE
About this book
About the eyewitnesses
About ‘Russia’ and ‘the West’
About how we got here
Chapter 1 WHAT MAKES RUSSIA DIFFERENT?
Why does Moscow behave the way it does?
Not on the same page
Same continent, different century
Return to empire
Can’t we all just get along?
To understand Russia, suspend disbelief
Chapter 2 POLITICS: WARFARE BY OTHER M EANS
Propaganda at home
The war on history
Censorship and isolation
Cracking down
Getting poorer
Paranoia at home and Abroad
Best enemies
Read the small print
Chapter 3 NEITHER WAR NOR PEACE
Direct influence – Trump and Brexit
Subversion and influence
Influence and ‘soft power’
‘Active measures’
Murder to order
What to do about it
Preparation for war
Chapter 4 WHAT THE RUSSIAN ARMY IS FOR
Russia and its military
Rebuilding the forces
How the West responds
Military intimidation
Ukraine
Keeping the peace
Chapter 5 NOBODY IS TOO UNIMPORTANT
Disinformation online
Suspending disbelief
Russia and the Western media
Targeting individuals
We called, but you were out
Nobody is too unimportant
Going global
Chapter 6 THE WILLING ACCOMPLICES
MICE and enablers
Money
Ideology
Compromise
Ego
London facilitators
France, Germany and the EU
Chapter 7 BUSINESS, STATECRAFT AND CRIME
‘The insurance will cover it’
Choose your target
Putting it all together
Estonia 2007 – not just cyber
The Night Wolves
What to do about it
Chapter 8 WHAT COMES NEXT
Danger signs
What can be done?
Coda
APPENDIX: INTERVIEWEES
SELECTED READING
INDEX
