New Research Division Publication -
When Hybrid Warfare Supports Ideology: Russia Today

Dear Reader,

NATO’s greatest challenge after the Warsaw Summit 2016 is to adapt to growing forms of strategic risks and threats coming from the East and from the South. In order for NATO to succeed in this adaptation process, it must understand the strategic risks and threats it faces. This learning process may take time.

Today Russia’s behaviour in the East and in the South is dominating policy discussions in NATO and in the EU, is causing surprise and frustration. Often it undermines the security calculus of Europe or, creates turbulence in the international security arena. The Russo-Georgian war in 2008 and the illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula by Russia in 2014 opened a new chapter in the relationship between NATO, the European Union, Russia, and the West’s Eastern partner countries. The hybrid nature of Russia’s undeclared conflict on the EU’s Eastern periphery generated a new range of security threats on NATO’s eastern flank.

How did this happen and what is the background of this new reality? What drives Russia’s behaviour in the Eastern Partnership region? What ideology is behind its actions? This research paper analyses political, geopolitical and ideological courses of action led by Vladimir Putin in realization of the Eurasian Union project. The author, a young visiting scholar in our Division who grew up in Ukraine, argues how a tool such as hybrid warfare supports the realization of Russia’s ideological project. The paper suggests possible ways in which the EU and NATO can coordinate their efforts and combine their forces to restore security in this region.

Vira concludes that NATO’s ongoing adaptation after the Warsaw Summit requires new strategic thinking as well as a re-commitment to a new form of ideological concepts with regard to the Eastern Partnership region. This may require a new type of relationship between NATO, the EU, and Russia.

We hope you enjoy this latest publication by the NDC Research Division.
Regards,

Jeff

Jeffrey A. Larsen, PhD, Division Head Research

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