SOFT POWER AND THE HYBRID WAR AS ELEMENTS OF STRATEGY OF RUSSIA IN THE GEOPOLITICAL CONFLICTS

Abstract

The article is focused on the characteristics of the concepts “soft power” and “hybrid war” which are popular terms in modern political studies. The author inspected the historic features of these concepts, the evolution of the state military strategies, starting with Clausewitz’ war strategy up to the current situation, where the military and information factors are equally important. Russian confrontation in the information wars of our time and the experience of using the elements of the hybrid war strategy have been thoroughly studied. The author provides practical recommendations for the improvement of Russia’s image, as well as for strengthening its positions in the international political system. Overall, the author concludes that Russia is now losing in the information war, however, there are prerequisites to reverse this negative trend, while using the positive experience of Russia’s “soft power” and the information wars. In addition, the author suggests using the tactics of “hybrid war” for defending Russia’s interests in the future.

Keywords

• geopolitics
• hybrid war
• soft power
• information warfare
• Syria
• Ukraine
• USA