ABSTRACT When social networking sites based in authoritarian states expand transnationally, digital media environments create soft power resources for these states. Rather than being an intrusion into national cyber-spaces “from outside”, these communication networks are constructed by multiple actors, not all of whom are backed or coordinated by the authoritarian state. Diasporic actors are of special interest here. Using reposts as a direct measure of information flows on the Russian social network VKontakte(VK), this article reconstructs Russian-language networks of influence related to post-Soviet migrants in Germany. It shows that transnational communicative spaces evolve around collective resources related to these migrants by tracing how transnational and multidirectional content flow is organized between the post-Soviet space and Germany. Identifiable political sub-networks are found to be dominated by anti-liberal and anti-Western positions, ideologically and thematically compatible with official Russian state discourses. Right-wing radicals, another target audience of Russian soft power strategies in Europe, are shown to be interconnected with the publics of Russian-speakers in Germany and in the post-Soviet space. Communicative spaces on social networks are thus not purely metaphorical, but underpin the extraterritorial reach of authoritarian regime.

中文翻译：

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德国的后苏联移民，跨国公共领域和俄罗斯的软实力

摘要当威权国家的社交网站在全球范围内扩张时，数字媒体环境会为这些国家创造软实力资源。这些通信网络不是由“外部”入侵国家网络空间，而是由多个行为者构建，并非所有人都受到专制国家的支持或协调。流离失所的演员在这里特别有趣。本文使用转贴作为俄罗斯社交网络VKontakte（VK）上信息流的直接量度，从而重构了影响德国后苏联移民的俄语语言网络。它表明，跨国交流空间通过追踪后苏联空间与德国之间的跨国和多方向内容流的组织方式，围绕与这些移民相关的集体资源而发展。发现可识别的政治子网以反自由和反西方立场为主导，在意识形态和主题上与俄罗斯官方的国家话语兼容。右翼激进分子是欧洲俄罗斯软实力战略的另一个目标受众，已证明与德国和后苏联时代的俄语国家的公众相互联系。因此，社交网络上的交流空间并不是纯粹的隐喻，而是支撑威权政权的域外影响的基础。被证明与德国和后苏联地区的俄语国家的公众相互联系。因此，社交网络上的交流空间并不是纯粹的隐喻，而是支撑威权政权的域外影响的基础。被证明与德国和后苏联地区的俄语国家的公众相互联系。因此，社交网络上的交流空间并不是纯粹的隐喻，而是支撑威权政权的域外影响的基础。