1 INSTRUMENTALIZING THE SOURCES OF ATTRACTION. HOW RUSSIA UNDERMINES ITS OWN SOFT POWER By Vasile Rotaru Abstract The 2011-2013 domestic protests and the 2013-2015 Ukraine crisis have brought to the Russian politics forefront an increasing preoccupation for the soft power. The concept started to be used in official discourses and documents and a series of measures have been taken both to avoid the Ǯdangersǯ of and to streamline Russiaǯs soft power. This dichotomous approach towards the Ǯpower of attractionǯ have revealed the differences of perception of the soft power by Russian officials and the Western counterparts. The present paper will analyse Russiaǯs efforts to control and to instrumentalize the sources of soft power, trying to assess the effectiveness of such an approach. Keywords: Russian soft power, Russian foreign policy, public diplomacy, Russian mass media, Russian internet Introduction The use of term soft power is relatively new in the Russian political circles, however, it has become recently increasingly popular among the Russian analysts, policy makers and politicians. The term per se was used for the first time in Russian political discourse in February 2012 by Vladimir Putin. In the presidential election campaign, the then candidate Putin drew attention to the fact that soft power – “К set of tools and methods to achieve foreign policy goals without the use of arms but by eбertinР inПormКtion КnН other levers oП inПluenМe” is useН Пrequentlв Лв “ЛiР countries, internКtionКl ЛloМks or МorporКtions” “to Нevelop КnН provoke eбtremist, separatist and nationalistic attitudes, to manipulate the public and to directly interfere in the НomestiМ poliМв oП sovereiРn Мountries” (Putin 2012). He was advocating that this kind of influence should Лe eбerteН “in the open” in orНer to КttrКМt the responsibility of the actors involved .