CYBER DIPLOMACY AS AN INSTRUMENT OF COGNITIVE WARFARE IN CYBERSPACE

Abstract

This article examines the systemic transformation of cyber diplomacy from a conventional instrument of cyberspace regulation and rule-making into an active mechanism of cognitive warfare. The study investigates how cyberspace has evolved beyond technical and legal domains into a primary theater for meaning-based and narrative confrontation. Methodologically grounded in Alexander Wendt’s constructivist paradigm of international relations, the theory of strategic narratives (systemic, identity, and issue-based), and case studies, the authors characterise cyber diplomacy as an instrument of the narrative construction of reality. The research demonstrates that due to institutional stagnation at multilateral platforms like the United Nations (the UN GGE process) and profound value-based divergences between democratic and autocratic regimes, the public attribution of cybercrimes has transitioned from a legal procedure into a strategic weapon of perception management. To illustrate this shift, the paper analyzes the geopolitical discourse surrounding the Volt Typhoon campaign, France's public attribution of decade-long cyber espionage to Russia's APT28, and the Czech Republic's May 2025 standalone attribution of MFA cyberattacks to Chinese-linked groups, which triggered an unprecedented condemnation of China by NATO. It also explores the rise of artificial intelligence and generative 'slopaganda' as force multipliers in manipulating collective consciousness, and details NATO's newly developed cognitive warfare defensive framework (2021-2025). The article concludes with practical recommendations for states, emphasizing the need to institutionalize rapid and persuasive cyber attribution mechanisms while actively building societal cognitive resilience to protect democratic decision-making.

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Received: 20.01.26 / Revised: 14.02.26 / Accepted: 18.03.26 / Published: 30.06.26