Hence, there is a principal difference to the western approach of treating cyber security as a standalone concern. Margarita Jaitner, researcher at the Swedish National Defence University, stresses a rather holistic view on information, where the wholeness of technological systems and the wholeness of cognitive information are parts of overall information security. In order to understand how Russian "information war" is being conducted, one has to take into consideration that the Russian military thought has a specific understanding of what information is and how it can be used. In order to withstand this information threat, this document emphasises the importance of the army's modernisation through "informatisation" and development of various technological systems, which would be able to stop the spread of "wrong" messages (Russian Federation Security Council 2009).
Authors of the National Security Strategy 2020 stress the intensification of global information operations and identify them as a possible threat. Russian official documents reveal that a lot of emphasis is put on information: 'information superiority' is one of the key elements of the new military doctrine. Thus, first, I am going to discuss the theoretical framework of information operations in the context of modern warfare and then proceed with the analysis of the narratives. The overview of the narratives is carried out within the context of information activities, which are often called "information wars". The aim of this article is to discuss narratives common in Russian media and the public sphere since the start of the Ukrainian crisis, based on available media sources and secondary literature. Hence, in this article I will focus on the intersection of modern Russian information operation strategies and Russian patriotic narratives as an important component of these strategies. Carefully constructed narratives have legitimising and mobilising effect and create social reality for people who live in the information landscapes where these narratives are being mediated. Information operations, creation and maintenance of long lasting universal narratives, which call for mobilization and can be used on different fronts (Jaitner 2014). That is why in today's Russia a lot of resources are put into modernisation ofġ This paper was supported by grant system of University of West Bohemia, project » Bezpecnost stredovychodni Evropy a cesko-ruske vztahy« number SGS-2015-032. Nevertheless, it is possible to state that information operations complement other military actions in modern warfare and can often play a leading role (Checkinov - Bogdanov 2011 2015). It is difficult to measure the effect of these operations, as they run parallel to other, more "traditional", political and military operations. These operations were continuously intensified and extended to target globally (Jaitner 2014). As Ukraine has been part of the extended Russian cultural and informational space for a long time, a sharp rise in information operations was identifiable with the start of the Euromaidan demonstrations. Conversion of the physical, political and informational activities in Ukraine in 2014-2015 have shown sophistication in Russia's adaptation to the modern networked communication environment.
Hence, it comes with little surprise that Russia has been making use of similar information strategies during the Ukrainian crisis. Russia has a long history of agitation and propaganda for mass mobilization and popular support (Berkhoff 2012 Glantz 1988 Kenetz 1985). Keywords: Russia, information activities, patriotism, identity, modern warfare. By relying on Russian military thought, the article sheds some light on the importance of narratives such as: Russia-West confrontation and hybrid wars, Russian history and identity, and Russian patriotism. Hence, this article aims to clarify the relevant terminology when it comes to the use of information operations in Russia as well as to point out the importance of mediated narratives. Already forgotten since the collapse of the Soviet Union discourse about the Cold War made a rapid comeback into the media and public discourse creating confusion among readers. 1Ībstract: Information warfare became a topic of a heated discussion with the advancement of the Russian state on the territory of the neighbouring Ukraine. Politics in Central Europe (ISSN: 1801-3422) Vol. Narratives of Russia's "Information Wars"1
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