Ukrainian, Taiwanese experts join forces to analyze how Russia and China deploy cognitive warfare to weaken democracies

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Experts from Ukraine’s defense, anti-corruption, and civil society sectors joined Taiwanese researchers in Taipei on Tuesday to discuss how Russia and China deploy cognitive warfare to weaken democracies, highlighting parallels between the two authoritarian states’ influence operations.

The forum, organized by Taiwan’s Doublethink Lab, brought a Ukrainian delegation to Taipei as part of a wider East Asia trip to share lessons learned from nearly a decade of Russian aggression and four years of full-scale war.

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[Ukrainian researcher Viktoriia] Vyshnivska said Russian and Chinese cognitive warfare share core themes: warning that “the West will abandon you,” amplifying fears about mobilization, and portraying governments as corrupt or incompetent.

She said she rarely encounters people abroad who question Taiwan’s existence, unlike Ukraine, which for years was unfamiliar to many and often perceived as part of Russia. “Unfortunately, that made Russia’s narrative that ‘Ukraine is an artificial state’ more successful,” she said.

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One participant asked when democracies should consider imposing limits on speech or influence channels to protect national security.

Vyshnivska said no universal formula exists, and each democracy must balance freedoms with real threats. “The red line should be whether a restriction protects citizens more than it harms them,” she said, citing Ukraine’s ban on Russian Orthodox Church institutions with proven ties to Russian intelligence. “Citizens themselves must decide, not the government alone.”

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“The most challenging part is countering a narrative when people feel it’s partly true,” she said. “Convincing Ukrainians that things are not as bad as Russian propaganda claims is difficult when sabotage has created real damage.”

Despite this, she emphasized that Ukraine’s resilience demonstrates that authoritarian predictions of collapse have repeatedly failed. “Russia wants you to believe everything is lost,” she said. “We are proof that it is not.”

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