Democracy Dialogue Connects Peril in Ukraine With Threats to U.S. Governance

“The coincidence only underscored both the need, and importance, of these conversations,” Ryan said. “Since then, we’ve had dialogues on the role of social media on polarization and on U.S.-China relations, to name just a few.”

During the dialogue held at the Rotunda, both congressmen noted that Russian propaganda early in the war in Ukraine made seemingly contradictory references to both President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Jewish heritage and a claim that the Ukrainian government he leads is run by neo-Nazis.

Perriello, who spent some time working with humanitarian relief groups in Ukraine, said Ukrainians have a strong sense of identity.

“They see there being a fundamental decision after the Soviet era where they decided, ‘We are going to be a democracy. We are going to be a Western-oriented democracy.’ That was a defining moment,” he said.

“And rather than saying ‘America, come save us,’ they are very much focused on saving themselves. But they are eager for help and I think the help of the Biden administration is supported with bipartisan support.”

Riggleman, who served in U.S. Air Force as an intelligence officer and as a contractor for the National Security Agency, said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is an example of a direct threat to a democratic country. He warned that there are also indirect threats that reach into American politics.

“I’m looking at this from an intelligence perspective and it’s not only the kinetic war that seems to be a threat, but it’s the non-kinetic, the cyber or the information warfare battle space, that we’re fighting right now,” he said.

Riggleman said the misinformation campaign is not limited to the Ukrainian war theater, but reverberates through American politics and society, creating a challenge to American democracy as well.

“We have to worry about what’s going on here, whether people are passing just information about Ukraine or Nazis or that Ukrainians are Nazis or the [claim] that Vladimir Putin is really the last Christian leader and is trying to bring back a sort of Christian rule,” he said. “You have all the stuff that’s happening in the disinformation space.”