New Strategy Center was on Tuesday, June 24, at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, to present in several meetings the results of a project carried out with the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), Norway, dedicated to combating Russian disinformation in the context of the war in Ukraine. The NSC delegation, consisting of George Scutaru, Director General, Dr. Alina Bârgăoanu, Senior Associate Expert and Sergiu Mitrescu, participated in these discussions together with NUPI experts. The day ended with a meeting with H.E. Dan Neculăescu, Romania’s Ambassador to NATO, where the next collaboration projects between NSC and NUPI were discussed, on topics of major interest for Romania and Norway, but also for NATO, such as critical infrastructure protection in the offshore area.

The visit is part of the project FLANKS 2 – dealing with the challenge of political warfare in the COVID-19 and Ukraine war context that the NSC is implementing in partnership with NUPI and was dedicated to the presentation of the results of the latest study published under the aegis of the project. Entitled “Norway and Romania: Navigating Information Warfare”, the study explores the use of disinformation, propaganda and interference to manipulate public discourse in the context of the war in Ukraine.
The FLANKS 2 project is funded by the Romanian-Norwegian Fund for Bilateral Relations 2014-2021. The project aims to develop and strengthen the understanding and knowledge of how societies and institutions in the Scandinavian and Black Sea region need to be prepared to face the challenges posed by political warfare and the use of various instruments of power that do not fit into kinetic warfare.
The NSC is grateful to the Romanian Mission to NATO and the Norwegian Mission to NATO for their support in organizing this visit.