The effects of foreign influence operations depend significantly on the reception and support they get in the national or local context of the target state or society. The more the content of an operation finds support from the key ideological structures and discourses of the target society the easier it is to get its message through. The strategic narratives of Russia and China present a powerful and attractive alternative ideology for audiences which have either lost confidence in the principles of democratic governance or see there to be more to win from cooperation with China or Russia. Apart from the tools of information power dealing with the consistency and credibility of the content of their narratives also the tools of expert power and referent power play a key role in ensuring the efficiency of their foreign influencing. Strategic narratives and disinformation operations are spread by both international and national actors legitimising the operations by their expertise or by their capacity to foster a sense of common identity or of belonging together with the key target audience. The use of domestic proxy actors is a commonplace tool in exerting expert and referent power with contracted actors originating in the media space, politics and various religious or spiritual communities. Influencing actors also use their own diasporas or political minorities living in another country for their operations even if the form of power in this context may be closer to coercive than persuasive.