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Over the past 12 years of war, Russia’s occupation authorities have implemented a form of tech-enabled authoritarian governance in eastern Ukraine and Crimea that pairs violence with digital isolation. Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russian authorities have used lessons learned from occupying Crimea to entrench their rule of new regions by reengineering telecommunications infrastructure, surveilling personal cell phones, and suppressing online communication and speech. These efforts are creating an alternate reality for Ukrainians designed to cultivate despair, destroy hope of reunification with government-controlled Ukraine, and reinforce the futility of escaping or resisting.
This briefing will examine how Russia is expanding and evolving its repressive capabilities in the occupied territories of Ukraine and the experience of Ukrainians living under Russia’s tech authoritarianism. Panelists will discuss the strategic implications of Russia’s digital isolation and militarization of the Ukrainian population under its control and steps the United States and partners can take to reconnect these Ukrainians with the outside world.
Panelists:
Iryna Adam, Research Associate, the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab
Maksym Beznosiuk, Analyst, the Jamestown Foundation and Associate Fellow, GLOBSEC
Steven Feldstein, Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
