Russia’s 'Deep State' Conspiracy Narratives: Historical and Cross-Cultural Dimensions and Their Implications for Counter-Disinformation Practices

• In Event: Disinformation and the Ukraine War: Historical and Cross-Cultural Approaches

Abstract

The US State Department lists ‘Deep State’ conspiracies as one of the 5 leading Kremlin disinformation narratives deployed during the Ukraine War. The EU’s Disinformation Database similarly highlights this conspiracy theory as one of the most frequently deployed examples of Russian state disinformation. The theory, however, has a long and complex cross-cultural history long predating its weaponization in the anglophone geopolitical sphere by Donald Trump and his supporters, changing both its meaning and its truth status as it travels across different temporal points, languages, cultures, and political contexts. This paper explores this complex process in detail, outlining its implications both for our understanding of the Kremlin’s Ukraine War communications strategy, and for larger issues concerning the terminologies and conceptual apparatuses we use to identify and counter authoritarian state disinformation.

Author

• Stephen Charles Hutchings, U of Manchester (UK)