The Importance of Today’s Mass Communication in Defence Policy through the Example of the Russian-Ukrainian War

Az orosz–ukrán háború példáján keresztül

Abstract

Numerous historical and military examples prove the important role of winning over one’s own population, the opponent’s population, and international public opinion, and that the mass media plays an increasingly important role in this. Since the beginning of Russia’s war against Ukraine, information operations in the civilian environment have become globally visible. On the other hand, it should be pointed out that although the topic did not receive sufficient emphasis in the global public discourse, in fact,
the information operations in the Russian–Ukrainian conflict started years before the outbreak of the war. The peaceful and less peaceful operations necessary to prepare
for war, including propaganda, as well as intelligence and disinformation, took place on the surfaces of both traditional and new media. These information operations (especially the messages) targeted not only the Russian and Ukrainian population, but also international public opinion and politics.