The European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats and the Federal Ministry of Defence of Austria organized the international conference “Demystifying Disinformation” and wargame exercise on countering disinformation in the Western Balkans, which took place on October 8-10 in Vienna and represented the ninth in an event series seeking to enhance the capacities of Hybrid CoE’s Participating States and their populations to counter disinformation.
The conference included four panels, which discussed regional cooperation and hybrid threats, civil society and cognitive influence, disinformation and malign influence, AI and new tech. Dr. Rumena Filipova represented IGA, presenting on the panel dedicated to unpacking the strategies and pathways through which authoritarian states exercise cognitive influence over civil societies in Bulgaria and the Western Balkans. The panel was moderated by Ms. Shiho Rybski, Director of Training and Exercise at Hybrid CoE, and also featured Dr. Aleks Nesic, Chair of European and Eurasian Affairs, US Foreign Service Institute, and Dr. Predrag Jurekovic, Head of section for conflict analysis at the Austrian National Defence Academy.
The conference was followed by a wargame exercise focused on developing scenarios as a pivotal dimension in capacity-building and navigating the challenging disinformation environment in the Western Balkans.