Information warfare expert says the U.S. is finally countering Russia at its own game
CBSN
Kyiv, Ukraine – The head of an organization that's battled Russian disinformation in Ukraine since President Vladimir Putin last sent troops into the country in 2014 tells CBS News the United States has finally learned to counter Russia's unique brand of hybrid warfare.
"I believe this is one of the first times when we saw an effective response from Washington and its European partners to this hybrid threat of Russia," Ruslan Deynychenko, executive director of the StopFake organization, told CBS News at his Kyiv office.
The U.S. and its European partners have aggressively countered Russia's narrative since it started massing forces along Ukraine's borders in recent months. Putin's government has insisted that Russia is merely hosting military exercises that pose no threat to Ukraine or any other nation.
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.