Battalion tactical groups of the Russian Armed Forces in the altered physiognomy of modern conflicts

Abstract

The altered setting of current conflicts, its hybridity and nonlinearity affect the justification of the assumption that operations in several domains will become a new method of conducting operations of the Russian Armed Forces. The Russian Armed Forces battle groups are in practice known as battalion tactical groups (BTG). They have arisen in response to the problems regarding the deployment of the Russian Armed Forces units in local and small wars, and within the general transformation of the Russian Armed Forces, based on altered geopolitical and strategic circumstances. The basis of BTG consists of units from active brigades of the Russian Armed Forces, which are established modularly in accordance with the expressed needs and expected characteristics of operations. The first deployment of the Russian Armed Forces BTG was in the conflict in Ukraine, which has significantly improved their organization and deployment following the experiences from the mentioned conflict. The current deployment in the conflict in Syria greatly contributes to the maturing of the concept of BTG implementation in the expeditionary operations of the Russian Armed Forces. It can be expected that the Russian Armed Forces BTG will also play an increasingly important role in the future hotspots, in response to practical demands of modern hybrid wars.

Keywords

• physiognomy of modern conflicts
• hybrid warfare
• btg
• nonstate actors
• proxy forces
• the armed forces of the russian federation