Hybrid Warriors by
The Russian government's deniable use of rogues, businessmen, enthusiasts, mercenaries and political technologists confounded policymakers as Moscow waged a covert invasion of Ukraine in 2014. Did Crimea and Donbas reveal the Kremlin's new "hybrid war" playbook? Or was Moscow itself manipulated by the very forces it had unleashed? Given the disinformation and skewing of the narrative, it is no wonder that the international community has dramatically misunderstood the very nature of this war and was unprepared for the Kremlin's sudden and brutal escalation in 2022. As Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine risks pitting the world's great powers against each other, Hybrid Warriors traces the trajectory of the conflict from the bottom up. Starting from the first pivotal years in the 2010s, the book draws on unique interviews, reporting from the conflict zones, and wider on-the-ground research, to reconstruct the granular relationships between civilians, non-state actors, and the Kremlin that co-opted them. In the process, it speaks not just to the history of this conflict, but also to our wider understanding of how Putin's Kremlin works and how it has prosecuted its war on Ukraine.
Russian 'Hybrid Warfare' and the Annexation of Crimea : The Modern Application of Soviet Political Warfare by
Western academics, politicians, and military leaders alike have labelled Russia's actions in Crimea and its follow-on operations in Eastern Ukraine as a new form of 'Hybrid Warfare'. In this book, the author argues that, despite these claims, the 2014 Crimean operation is more accurately to be seen as the Russian Federation's modern application of historic Soviet political warfare practices - the overt and covert informational, political, and military tools used to influence the actions of foreign governments and foreign populations. The author links the use of Soviet practices, such as the use of propaganda, disinformation, front organizations, and forged political processes, in the Crimea in 2014 to the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 (the 'Prague Spring') and the earliest stages of the invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Through an in-depth case study analysis of these conflicts, featuring original interviews, government documents and Russian and Ukrainian sources, this book demonstrates that the operation, which inspired discussions about Russian 'Hybrid Warfare', is in fact the modern adaptation of Soviet political warfare tools and not the invention of a new type of warfare.
Hybrid Warfare : Future and Technologies by
Hybrid warfare is becoming a long-term strategic challenge for NATO and the EU. This book examines its conceptual foundations, actors and technologies from a holistic, systemic perspective. In particular, new, disruptive technologies have a catalytic effect on hybrid methods and tools. Nineteen technologies prove to be particularly relevant. They improve the initial conditions for hybrid action, expand the arsenal of hybrid actors and improve the scope and prospects for success of their activities.
Countering Hybrid Threats : Steps for Improving EU-NATO Cooperation by 
Hybrid Warfare : Security and Asymmetric Conflict in International Relations
Hybrid warfare refers to a military strategy that blends conventional warfare, so-called 'irregular warfare' and cyber-attacks with other influencing methods, such as fake news, diplomacy and foreign political intervention. As hybrid warfare becomes increasingly commonplace, there is an imminent need for research bringing attention to how these challenges can be addressed in order to develop a comprehensive approach towards hybrid threats and hybrid warfare. This volume supports the development of such an approach by bringing together practitioners and scholarly perspectives on the topic and by covering the threats themselves, as well as the tools and means to counter them, together with a number of real-world case studies. The book covers numerous aspects of current hybrid warfare discourses including a discussion of the perspectives of key western actors such as NATO, the US and the EU; an analysis of Russia and China's hybrid warfare capabilities; and the growing threat of cyberwarfare. A range of global case studies - featuring specific examples from the Baltics, Taiwan, Ukraine, Iran and Catalonia - are drawn upon to demonstrate the employment of hybrid warfare tactics and how they have been countered in practice. Finally, the editors propose a new method through which to understand the dynamics of hybrid threats, warfare and their countermeasures, termed the 'Hybridity Blizzard Model'.
The Evolution of Russian Hybrid Warfare
Center for European Policy Analysis (US)
This report seeks to assess, understand, and respond to the evolution of Russia’s vision of the chaos strategy through critical examples of Russia’s use of hybrid warfare. It looks at the evolution and adaptations of Russian hybrid warfare against four target countries and institutions - Ukraine, a frontline state suffering the consequences of aggressive Russian military and subthreshold action; Estonia, whose resilience against Russian cyberattacks has inspired major policy changes in Europe regarding information security; the United Kingdom, a unique and remarkable example of how Western countries are affected by subthreshold activities, especially in the informational realm; and, finally, institutions like the European Union (EU) and NATO, which are seeing their internal cohesion put to the test by Russian nonlinear operations.
The Hybrid Age : International Security in the Era of Hybrid Warfare by
Humankind has always sought out innovative and new ways of waging war, establishing new forms of warfare. Set against a background of global strategic instability this process of innovation has, over the last two decades, produced a new and complex phenomenon, hybrid warfare. Distinct from other forms of modern warfare in several key aspects, it presents a unique challenge that appears to baffle policymakers and security experts, while giving the actors that employ it a new way of achieving their goals in the face of long-standing Western conventional, doctrinal, and strategic superiority. This book analyses the phenomenon of hybrid warfare through theoretical frameworks and a range global case studies from the 2006 Lebanon War to the Russian intervention in Ukraine in 2014. It aims to establish a unified theory of hybrid warfare, which not only outlines what the term means, but also places it in its context, and provides the tools which enable an observer to identify and react to a future instance of hybrid warfare.
Competing in the Gray Zone : Russian Tactics and Western Responses by
Rand Corporation (US)
Recent events in Crimea and the Donbass in eastern Ukraine have upended relations between Russia and the West, specifically the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU). Although Russia's actions in Ukraine were, for the most part, acts of outright aggression, Russia has been aiming to destabilize both its 'near abroad' — the former Soviet states except for the Baltics - and wider Europe through the use of ambiguous 'gray zone' tactics. These tactics include everything from propaganda and disinformation to election interference and the incitement of violence. To better understand where there are vulnerabilities to Russian gray zone tactics in Europe and how to effectively counter them, the RAND Corporation ran a series of war games. These games comprised a Russian (Red) team, which was tasked with expanding its influence and undermining NATO unity, competing against a European (Green) team and a U.S. (Blue) team, which were aiming to defend their allies from Red's gray zone activities without provoking an outright war. In these games, the authors of this report observed patterns of behavior from the three teams that are broadly consistent with what has been observed in the real world. This report presents key insights from these games and from the research effort that informed them.
Russian Political War : Moving Beyond the Hybrid by
This book cuts through the misunderstandings about Russia's geopolitical challenge to the West, presenting this not as 'hybrid war' but 'political war'. Russia seeks to antagonize : its diplomats castigate Western 'Russophobia' and cultivate populist sentiment abroad, while its media sells Russia as a peaceable neighbour and a bastion of traditional social values. Its spies snoop, and even kill, and its hackers and trolls mount a 24/7 onslaught on Western systems and discourses. This is generally characterised as 'hybrid war', but this is a misunderstanding of Russian strategy. Drawing extensively not just on their writings but also decades of interactions with Russian military, security and government officials, this study demonstrates that the Kremlin has updated traditional forms of non-military 'political war' for the modern world. Aware that the West, if united, is vastly richer and stronger, Putin is seeking to divide, and distract, in the hope it will either accept his claim to Russia's great-power status - or at least be unable to prevent him. In the process, Russia may be foreshadowing how the very nature of war is changing : political war may be the future.
The Lands in Between : Russia vs. the West and the New Politics of Hybrid War by
Russia's stealth invasion of Ukraine and its assault on the US elections in 2016 forced a reluctant West to grapple with the effects of hybrid war. While most citizens in the West are new to the problems of election hacking, state-sponsored disinformation campaigns, influence operations by foreign security services, and frozen conflicts - citizens of the frontline states between Russia and the European Union have been dealing with these issues for years. This book contends that these 'lands in between' hold powerful lessons for Western countries. For Western politics is becoming increasingly similar to the lands in between, where hybrid warfare has polarized parties and voters into two camps : those who support a Western vision of liberal democracy and those who support a Russian vision of nationalist authoritarianism. Paradoxically, while politics increasingly boils down to a zero sum 'civilizational choice' between Russia and the West, those who rise to the pinnacle of the political system in the lands in between are often non-ideological power brokers who have found a way to profit from both sides, taking rewards from both Russia and the West. Increasingly, the political pathologies of these small, vulnerable, and backwards states in Europe are our problems too. In this deepening conflict, we are all lands in between.
Protecting Europe : The EU's Response to Hybrid Threats by
European Union Institute for Security Studies (FR)
Hybrid threats - unconventional threats that fall under the threshold of military force - have become an ubiquitous feature of today's security environment. Although the EU is much better placed to detect and combat hybrid threats today than was the case five years ago, this new form of asymmetric conflict remains a major challenge. This paper seeks to provide practical and operational insights on how the EU can best respond to and counter hybrid threats. It focuses on three key policy domains that are of vital significance in a hybrid context - borders, critical infrastructure and disinformation - and shows how the EU has developed specific strategies to combat hybrid challenges in these areas. The paper underlines the importance of developing and overarching strategic response, and of improving coordinated EU approaches to hybrid threats.
Russia's Hostile Measures in Europe : Understanding the Threat by Hybrid Conflicts and Information Warfare : New Labels, Old Politics by
What is hybrid warfare ? And what role does information play in today's conflicts ? In the context of the technological/information revolution of the last two decades - which has greatly amplified the danger posed by nonmilitary means of political struggle - this book addresses these questions from the perspectives of both Western and Russian experts. Incorporating both theory and contemporary realities, including the case of the Islamic State, the authors offer a unique dialogue on the nature of conflict in the second decade of the twenty-first century.
Russia, the West, and the Ukraine Crisis by 
Russian 'Hybrid Warfare' : Resurgence and Politicisation by
This book examines the causes and consequences of the Ukraine crisis, with a special focus on Russia's relations with the West. Towards that end, it brings together international relations scholars and area specialists. Issues covered include : the evolution of EU-Russia and US-Russia relations, the role of strategic culture and ontological insecurities in the formation of Russian foreign policy, the role of hybrid warfare in Russian military policy, the geopolitical drivers of Russia's Ukraine policy, and a discussion of the decision-making dynamics that led to Russia's intervention in eastern Ukraine. The contributors employ different theoretical approaches and offer partly complementary and partly competing analyses. In so doing, this book seeks to stimulate dialogue between different positions and advance our understanding of a topic that will shape the European security order for many years to come.
Russia's Military Posture : Ground Forces Order of Battle by
Institute for the Study of War (US)
U.S. leaders and their European allies are unprepared for the ways in which Russia's President Vladimir Putin is poised to wage war in Ukraine and the Baltic. The Russian military is well positioned to launch a short-notice conventional war in Ukraine and a hybrid war in the Baltic States, the opposite of what Western leaders seem to expect in each theater. NATO leaders increasingly warn of the threat of a conventional invasion of the Baltic States (or even Western Europe). But Russian ground forces are not deployed or organized to initiate a short-notice conventional war in that region. They have, however, redeployed and reorganized since 2014 in a way that would support a rapid mechanized invasion of Ukraine from both north and east, while remaining well-prepared to conduct a hybrid warfare intervention in the Baltics similar to what they did in Ukraine after the Maidan Revolution. The United States and its partners should re-evaluate the most likely Russian courses of action and reconsider the mix of military and non-military tools required to defend NATO allies and Ukraine from potential Russian aggression.
A Civil-Military Response to Hybrid Threats by
This edited volume provides scholars and practitioners with an in-depth examination of the role of civil-military cooperation in addressing hybrid threats. As they combine the simultaneous employment of conventional and non-conventional tools and target not only military objectives but governments and societies at large, hybrid threats cannot be countered solely by military means, but require an equally inclusive response encompassing a wide range of military and civilian actors. This book, which combines the perspectives of academics, military officers, and officials from international and non-governmental organisations, resorts to different case studies to illustrate the importance of civil-military cooperation in enhancing the resilience of NATO members and partners against a wide range of societal destabilization strategies, thereby contributing to the formulation of a civil-military response to hybrid threats.
Theorie des hybrides : terrorisme et crime organise by
Dans le monde post-Guerre froide, l'hybridation est devenue la regle et non plus l'exception, generant des entites inclassables : guerillas marxistes vivant du traffic de cocaine; gangsters salafises; sectes religieuses vouees au terrorisme; financiers a la fois speculateurs et criminels; paramilitaires mutant en cartels de la drogue ... Tous les entrepreneurs du crime tendent aujourd'hui a changer d'ampleur et de forme. L'ere de l'hybridation a commence ... Et le terrorisme trouve ainsi des nouvelles sources de financement. Des corps heterogenes et inconciliables font desormais symbiose. Hier, acteurs 'politiques' (terrorisme, guerillas, milices, mouvements de liberation) et criminels de 'droit commun' (bandes, gangs, cartels, mafias) vivaient separes dans les espaces et selon les logiques de la Guerre froide : ils fusionnent aujourd'hui sur la meme scene violente et predatrice.
Hybrid Warfare in the Baltics : Threats and Potential Responses by
Rand Corporation (US)
Many policymakers and analysts have expressed concerns about Russian use of 'hybrid warfare', especially against Estonia and Latvia, which have significant Russian-speaking populations. The author of this report analyzes the hybrid threat to the Baltics by dividing potential Russian aggression in three categories : nonviolent subversion, covert violent action, and conventional warfare supported by subversion. The author finds that, given the growing integration of Russian speakers and high capacity of the Baltic states, Russia will have difficulty using nonviolent or covert action to subvert the Baltics absent the use of conventional force, and hence the Baltics' main vulnerability stems from Russia's local superiority in conventional forces. While improving the conventional deterrent in the region is important, the United States and its NATO allies should also address the potential for all forms of Russian aggression across the conflict spectrum. To this end, the author recommends an improved strategic communications campaign aimed at Russian speakers, measures to strengthen the Baltic states' security forces, and ensuring that any NATO deployment in the region does not unintentionally increase the potential for Russian subversion or miscalculation.
Hybrid War or Gibridnaya Voina? Getting Russia's Non-Linear Military Challenge Right by
The West is at war. Not a war of the old sort, fought with the thunder of guns, but a new sort, fought with the rustle of money, the shrill mantras of propagandists, and the stealthy whispers of spies. Often described as 'hybrid war, ' a blend of the military and the political, it reflects both the way that war is changing in the modern world as well as Russia's attempt to divide, demoralize and distract the West as it asserts its claim to be a great power, with a sphere of influence and Ukraine and beyond. This study explores the two parallel forms of 'non-linear warfare' and provides recommendations as to how the West can best respond.
Putin's Propaganda Machine by
This book examines Russia's 'information war', one of the most striking features of its intervention in Ukraine. The author argues that the Kremlin's propaganda offensive is a carefully prepared strategy, implemented and tested over the last decade. Initially intended as a tool to enhance Russia's soft power, it quickly developed into one of the main instruments of Russia's new imperialism, reminiscent of the height of the Cold War. The author describes a multifaceted strategy that makes use of diverse instruments, including mimicking Western public diplomacy initiatives, hiring Western public-relations firms, setting up front organizations, buying Western media outlets, financing political parties, organizing a worldwide propaganda offensive through the Kremlin's cable network RT, and publishing paid supplements in leading Western newspapers. In this information war, key roles are assigned to the Russian diaspora and the Russian Orthodox Church, the latter focused on spreading so-called traditional values and attacking universal human rights and Western democracy in international fora. The author demonstrates that the Kremlin's propaganda machine plays not only a central role in its 'hybrid war' in Ukraine, but that it also has broader international objectives, targeting in particular Europe's two leading countries - France and Germany - with the goal of forming a geopolitical triangle, consisting of a Moscow-Berlin-Paris axis, intended to roll back the influence of NATO and the United States in Europe. Drawing on years of research, the author shows how the Kremlin has built an array of soft power instruments and transformed them into effective weapons in a new information war with the West.
NATO's Evolution : From Conventional to Hybrid Warfare by Countering Hybrid Threats : Lessons Learned from Ukraine
(NATO science for peace and security series. Sub-series E, Human and societal dynamics ; vol. 128)
The Ukrainian conflict has come to be considered as the most serious geopolitical crisis in Central and Eastern Europe since the end of the Cold War. Its implications extend well beyond the borders of Ukraine, and its impact on the security of the wider Black Sea region is, as yet, neither contained nor fully understood. This book contains 28 articles on the topic of hybrid warfare and related threats, delivered at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) 'Countering Hybrid Threats: Lessons Learned from Ukraine', held in Bucharest, Romania, in September 2015. This event brought together 50 experts from different fields and perspectives, including policymakers, security and intelligence practitioners, and academics. The presentations explored the nature of the Ukrainian conflict and the dynamic evolution of current security threats in Central and Eastern Europe and the Black Sea region with the aim of identifying the key drivers of the conflict and exploring the most efficient instruments and methods for conflict resolution.
Social Media as a Tool of Hybrid Warfare by 
Toward Operational Art in Special WarfareWhat NATO for What Threats : Warsaw and Beyond by
Istituto Affari Internazionali (IT)
The relatively rapid transformation of the security environment in the past 15 years has seen NATO involved in what has become the keyword to effectiveness : adaptability. Throughout time this has taken different forms, but three have been its main avenues : a redefinition of the concept of security, the development of core tasks that have been added to collective defence (crisis management operations and cooperative security) and the Alliance’s enlargement. All three venues have contributed to make NATO more apt to the changed security scenario, but each of them needs to be constantly assessed for its contribution to NATO’s effectiveness as a security Alliance and integrated with a reflection on dynamics internal to the Alliance itself. The spirit of the fourth Academic Conference organised in Bertinoro on 4-6 October 2015, was to contribute to the reflection on NATO’s adaptability with respect to security challenges (with a special attention to hybrid threats), its internal cohesion, its readiness, and cooperative security in particular with regards to partnerships.
Operating in the Gray Zone : An Alternative Paradigm for U.S. Military Strategy by 
Mastering the Gray Zone : Understanding a Changing Era of Conflict by Techno-guerilla et guerre hybride : le pire des deux mondes by
L'art de la guerre evolue constamment. Si la nature de la guerre est une constante - c'est la dialectique de volontes opposees utilisant la force pour resoudre un differend - son caractere, donc la forme que'elle va prendre, est evoutif. En l'occurrence, nous assistons depuis quelques annees a une mutation profonde vers une hybridation entre modes de guerre reguliers (celui de la plupart des armees) et irreguliers (celui des groupes de guerilla, insurges ou terroristes). La diffusion des nouvelles technologies implique ainsi une montee en puissance de groupes constituant actuellement la principale menace pour nos armees : naturellement agiles, jouant la montre dans des confltis de plus en plus longs, ils vont disposer d'une puissance de feu de plus en plus importante et d'une influence de plus en plus large. De leur cote, un certain nombre d'armees tirent les lecons des operations irregulieres et evoluent de maniere structurelle vers certaines caracteristiques de ce mode de combat. C'est a une plongee dans le monde des operations hybrides que nous invite l'auteur de cet ouvrage, examinant ses racines europeennes - les travaux de Guy Brossollet et des auteurs allemands et scandinaves - mais aussi toutes ses iterations. Ces dernieres se manifestent aussi bien dans les domaines naval et aerien que dans la guerre chimique ou celle de l'information et de la cyberguerre. Au-dela du constat, cet ouvrage novateur qui est le premier en francais sur la question, permet de proposer un certain nombre de pistes de reflexion au profit de nos armees.
The Hybrid Mindset and Operationalizing Innovation : Toward a Theory of Hybrid by 
Hybrid Warfare : Fighting Complex Opponents from the Ancient World to the Present by
Hybrid warfare has been an integral part of the historical landscape since the ancient world, but only recently have analysts - incorrectly - categorized these conflicts as unique. Great powers throughout history have confronted opponents who used a combination of regular and irregular forces to negate the advantage of the great powers' superior conventional military strength. As this study shows, hybrid wars are labor-intensive and long-term affairs; they are difficult struggles that defy the domestic logic of opinion polls and election cycles. Hybrid wars are also the most likely conflicts of the twenty-first century; competitors may use hybrid forces to wear down America's military capabilities in extended campaigns of exhaustion. Nine historical examples of hybrid warfare, from ancient Rome to the modern world, provide readers with context by clarifying the various aspects of these conflicts and examining how great powers have dealt with them in the past.
The Complexity of Modern Asymmetric Warfare by
Today more than one hundred small, asymmetric, and revolutionary wars are being waged around the world. This book provides invaluable tools for fighting such wars by taking enemy perspectives into consideration. Using case studies, the author outlines vital survival lessons for leaders and organizations concerned with national security in our contemporary world. The insurgencies he describes span the globe. Large, wealthy, well-armed nations like the United States have learned from experience that these small wars and insurgencies do not resemble traditional wars fought between geographically distinct nation-state adversaries by easily identified military forces. Twenty-first-century irregular conflicts blur traditional distinctions among crime, terrorism, subversion, insurgency, militia, mercenary and gang activity, and warfare. In addition, the author explains, warfare is no longer conducted exclusively by professional soldiers. Hackers, financiers, media experts, and software engineers, among others, must be included in the strategic architecture for contemporary conflict. Whether we call them unrestricted wars, insurgencies, or revolutions, the wars of the future will be total in terms of both scope and time. The author's multidimensional paradigm offers military and civilian leaders a much needed blueprint for dealing with these phenomena, and the challenge he presents is to take probable enemy perspectives into consideration and turn the resultant conceptions into strategic victories.
Military Capabilities for Hybrid War : Insights from the israel Defense Forces in Lebanon and Gaza by Conflict in the 21st Century : The Rise of Hybrid Wars by Strategic Competition and Resistance in the 21st Century : Irregular, Catastrophic, Traditional, and Hybrid Challenges in Context by