CICERO FOUNDATION GREAT DEBATE PAPER, 2017

During the last decade, Hybrid Warfare has become a much-evoked, yet controversial, term in the academic, military and political discourses. This paper argues that from a military tactical-operational concept intended to describe the evolving reality of the battlefield in the 21st century, the idea of ‘Russian Hybrid War’ has been become a panacea to the identity crisis that the West (especially NATO, as its military alliance) has experienced since the end of the Cold War. This paper aims to trace the development of the contemporary definition of the so-called ‘Russian Hybrid Warfare’ focusing on several important aspects that have been shaping the conceptual understanding of this term and its political usage.

Estonian National Defence College, ENDC Occasional Papers, 2017

The “hybrid warfare” is one of important topics of security related military thinkers and academics being an outcome of conflicts in Europe, Middle East and growing threat coming not only from military but mainly from non-military sources. It has been widely discussed also in the context of military developments in Russia. The paper is discussing the official approach to that term including NATO and Russian thinkers. It is touching also military developments of Russian Federation and non-military aspects of security based on perception of internal and external security threats.

Land Forces Academy Review

In this paper we will throw a close look on the recent and contemporary military and hybrid phenomenons that curently shape both European and world security structure. In terms of security, seeing through the lens of intellingence and, at the same time, having a deep empirical and epistemological knowledge about the military events that occured near the European border, the world has had serious concerns regarding the russian foreign policy and its geostrategic plans. We will analyze the premises of the Russian military intervention, the hybrid methods used and most importantly what conclusions and valuble lessons Europe, NATO and the West had learned for the future. Moreover, we will see what policies led to these consequences and which strategies will be intended to support decisions and governance regarding the current threats. Systematically, we will try to reveal an efficient physiognomy of the risks, dangers, and threats and what could have been done to stop the current Russia...

2018

The security policy of the Russian Federation has long involved elements of threat to neighbouring countries and forcing the hand of its political partners. In the last decade, Russia has used hybrid modes of warfare to instigate conflicts and instability in its neighbouring countries, while remaining below a certain threshold of violence, allowing it to dodge retaliatory consequences. The authors of the article indicate that the objective of the use of hybrid modes of warfare in Ukraine consists in blurring motives and actors in order to obfuscate a decisive and efficient response. This article argues further that these tactics, if used against a member of the Atlantic Alliance, would effectively allow such an attack to remain below the Article 5 applicability threshold, thereby making it difficult for alliance members to reach consensus on the characterisation of the attack. Even though the member states of NATO and the EU have not been direct targets of Russian actions, former republics of the Soviet Union can be considered to be in the danger zone, based on Russian political statements and its hybrid activities in these countries.

Online Journal 'Modeling the New Europe', 2017

The term " hybrid warfare " has been used to refer to the combined usage of unconventional military tactics such as conventional warfare with irregular warfare and cyberwarfare, as well as the employment of other instruments and tactics (subversive elements), to achieve a double goal: first to avoid responsibility and retribution, and second to weaken and destabilize the enemy without direct involvement. The rigidity of the current international system pertaining to the usage of non-peaceful methods of solving an international dispute and/or furthering state interests, have made it increasing difficulty, without the support of the international community (humanitarian interventions and UN-sanctioned interventions) to employ the 'classical methods' which pre-date the provisions of the UN Charter, relevant to what we now consider as " acts of aggression ". Discussing the resurgence of the Russian Federation as a great power, we argue that because of the innate historical and traditional factors of Russian geopolitics, it was only a matter of time until the Kremlin's military doctrine pivoted from the defensive phase it entered after the fall of the Soviet Union, to the pro-active involvement at the limit of international law: Georgia in 2008, East Ukraine in 2013, Crimea in 2014, and Syria in 2015. Therefore, in this article we will contend, firstly, by discussing the example of the perception of the so-called Russian " Gerasimov doctrine " , that hybrid war can have two different connotations: " war during peace " and " neo-imperial ambitions ". Secondly, we will try to argue that the NATO military doctrine of deterrence has become obsolete, still envisaging the possible threats posed by a future Russian involvement in the Baltic and Eastern Europe in cold-war terms and not in terms relevant to the shifting international security environment.

Irregular Warfare Center, 2023

2018

2015

With the start of the conflict in Ukraine and the war conducted by Russia, we observe a lot of discussions about a new form of war. While addressing the concept of "hybrid warfare", this paper tries to explain the interest of understanding what is at stake and how NATO can react to it.

Connections: The Quarterly Journal

The term hybrid warfare has been widely analyzed by scholars, policymakers and commentators since Russia occupied Crimea in March 2014. The topic has ceased to be a subject only studied by military strategists, but has entered the wider policy domain as a significant security challenge for the West. This article seeks to place the debate about hybrid warfare in a broader analytical and historical context and summarizes discussion to date on this and related strategic concepts. The Russian approach to hybrid warfare as demonstrated by operations in Ukraine is a particular focus for discussion.