Natalia Yermak
Russia has used information warfare to promote its interests and undermine opponents across the world as a part of its foreign policy for decades.
The Russian state was spending an estimated $1.5 billion annually on its foreign disinformation campaigns, Christopher Walker, National Endowment for Democracy vice president for studies and analysis, told Congress in 2023.
These campaigns skillfully take advantage of already existing divisions in society, inflaming tensions to divide and destabilize countries around the world, according to experts.
In the U.S., the State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC) had acted as the main tool to expose Russia and China’s disinformation campaigns abroad since it was reformed in 2016.
But in 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration shut the center down, citing concerns about free speech and the rights of American citizens.
The Kyiv Independent spoke with James Rubin, a former diplomat who led the GEC for two years starting in 2022, about the consequences of Trump’s decision, as well as Russia’s continued information operations worldwide.
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