Cyber Intelligence in Russian Foreign Policy

The sovereign states of the international system can continue their mutual cooperation in military, security, economic and commercial activities as well as pursue competitive policies in line with their conflicting interests. In this context, they apply to many different ways and methods for interest-oriented purposes. One of them is intelligence. Intelligence can be summarized as tactical information for countries to access certain information through “confidential” means and to use, conceal or block this information for the benefit of the state. States and non-state actors have been using the concept of intelligence for many years. Today, it is known that intelligence services such as CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), FSB (Federal Security Service), MOSSAD (The Institute for Intelligence and Special Positions) and the countries whose global influences such as the USA(United States of America), Russia and Israel are indisputable are conducting researches and collecting information by means of these services in order to formulate policies that are in the interests of the states. Russia, which took its place in the international system as the successor of the Soviet Union, signaled that it was an important actor within the borders of the former Soviet Union, especially with the arrival of the former KGB agent Vladimir Putin to open the doors of change and transformation. From the realist paradigm, relations in an anarchic and interest-based world prioritize interests, and the desire to be one step ahead of the interlocutors of states and non-state actors justifies the necessity of intelligence in itself. Therefore, the role of intelligence services in economic, social and political aspects plays an important role in Russia s effectiveness in both domestic and foreign policy. Today, although intelligence methods continue their old traditional methods, they are inadequate in technological development and digitalizing world. Therefore, the study examines how the function and domain of data from traditional intelligence to cyber intelligence has gained a dimension in the foreign policy of Russia, one of the important actors of the international system. In this direction, based on the data obtained from literature review, the concept of intelligence is questioned in the theoretical framework and the process of transition from traditional intelligence to digital intelligence in Russian foreign policy and its reflections on political axis will be analyzed.