Information Warfare as a Tool of Political Confrontation in the Modern Multipolar World

The study is devoted to the analysis of the phenomenon of information warfare in the modern world. Authors concretized the concept of information warfare and its connection with hybrid warfare, which has replaced the mechanisms of direct “forceful” influence in a rapidly changing political architecture. The significance of the wars of the XXI century, which are conducted from the position of “soft power” and are characterized by a protracted nature, is revealed. Information warfare is considered as their most important component. The authors highlight the following features of information wars: they are conducted in the cultural field; their purpose is to transform the consciousness of a political opponent. These wars are aimed at value orientations, traditions, historical and cultural identity. The emergence of the concept of “information warfare” in the article is associated with the end of the Cold War at the end of the XX century and the definition of a new U.S. strategy. The main conditions and reasons for the transition to a new type of war are the collapse of the bipolar world, the growing threat of international terrorism, and the erosion of ethnic and cultural identity within the United States and allied countries themselves. Cybernetic troops are analyzed as a new specialized type of troops. The authors revealed two main spaces of the information war impact: the communicative environment and the field of probable social macro-conflict. Information warfare in research is considered as part of a military, economic, and geopolitical confrontation. The authors substantiate that an extremely intensive information war has been waged against the Russian Federation for more than 20 years. It involves depriving Russia not only of allies, but also replacing the “cultural and historical codes” in friendly countries, primarily by reformatting the consciousness of young people. The authors analyzed the documents aimed at solving the problem of information wars in Russia - the “Information Security Doctrine of the Russian Federation” and the “National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation”.