Russia’s cogmotional warfare

This article introduces the concept of cogmotional warfare to capture the multidimensional character of Russia’s contemporary cognitive strategy. While existing scholarship largely approaches cognitive warfare as an instrument of external confrontation, this article argues that Russia’s strategy also serves broader ontological security functions through the integration of ontological narratives, socio-technical infrastructures, and emotional conditioning. The ontological dimension concerns the production of civilizational identity and existential threat narratives; the infrastructural dimension examines how digital platforms, AI-driven media systems, and communication networks shape perception and social coordination; and the emotional dimension explores how fear, uncertainty, grief, and patriotic attachment are synchronized through mediated affective environments. By foregrounding the emotional and infrastructural dynamics often overlooked in existing literature, the article advances a more comprehensive understanding of how Russia’s cognitive warfare reinforces domestic cohesion while contesting external social and perceptual environments.