Policy Workshop: "Information manipulations and cognitive warfare: New insecurities for Estonia and Europe"

Workshop “Information Manipulations and Cognitive Warfare: New Insecurities for Estonia and Europe”, organized by the Johan Skytte Institute of the University of Tartu and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia, will be held in Tallinn on December 8, 2025. It will address emerging information-related threats and their implications for Estonia and Europe.

This policy workshop is a second event within the framework of the project titled “Russian and Pro-Russian Narratives in Estonia: from Threat Denial to Normalization of War”. This event aims at discussing academic research in post-truth narratives and their manipulative potential from policy-relevant perspectives. Its aim is to foster a dialogue between policy experts and practitioners (diplomats, think tankers, journalists) on the broad set of related issues, from conspiratorial thinking to malinformation within democratic societies.

Within this framework, of particular interest are various Russophone narratives, both domestic and external, in countries with substantial Russian linguistic presence. The workshop includes two panels – one discussing European experiences of information management and information disorder, and another focused more specifically on a variety of Russophone narratives beyond Russia’s national borders.

PROGRAM:

12.00 – 13.30 Panel One: European experiences of information disorder: Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine and Beyond

Speakers:

• Dr. Carme Colomina, CIDOB, Barcelona
• Dr. Yulia Kurnyshova, University of Helsinki
• Daniela Monsportova, Charles University

Moderator and discussant: Konstantin Eggert MBE, Deutsche Welle

13.30 – Catering Lunch

14.30 – 16.00 Panel Two: Russophone narratives beyond Russia’s national borders: Estonia and Beyond

Speakers:

• Dr. Maia Klaassen, University of Tartu
• Dr. Mari-Liis Jakobson, University of Tallinn
• Dr. Andrey Makarychev, University of Tartu

Moderator and discussant: James Sherr OBE (International Center for Defense and Security, Tallinn)

16.15 – 17.00 Book launch discussion: “Studying Russia’s Wars: Academic Stocktaking in Times of Uncertainty” (Brill, 2025)

Yulia Kurnyshova and Andrey Makarychev (book co-editors)

„Russian Influence Operations and the War in Ukraine: Hybrid Warfare and Disinformation Campaigns“ (Springer, 2025)

Vladimir Sazonov (book co-editor)