Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Kremlin has sought to expand its political and economic influence in Latin America and Africa. This has led to a divided and polarized global community. Russia has sought to establish long-term, asymmetrical dependencies with countries in the region, aiming to influence their foreign policy and democratic orientation.

CSD held an online public launch of its report on the Global Reach: The Kremlin Playbook in Latin America, which explores the multitude of Russian economic and political influence strategies that were leveraged by the Kremlin to achieve an outsized influence over the region’s geostrategic orientation. CSD co-organized the online event with the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

The discussion following the presentation of the report’s key findings featured some of the 60 most relevant civil society leaders, policy-makers and journalists from across Latin America, They focused particularly on the different structural economic dependencies, the large-scale joint projects in vulnerable sectors along with the use of sharp power tools, such as the Russian state media disinformation campaigns strengthening anti-Western, illiberal and anti-colonial narratives. The discussion highlighted also how Russia has been especially successful in cognitively capturing the countries’ civil society, academics and increasingly the public discourse on some of the most important geopolitical issues facing the West.