“Hybrid Threats” to Russia’s Security: Identification and Counteraction

Abstract

In the scientific literature, it is customary to consider and analyze war exclusively as a violent (conventional) confrontation of subjects of international politics. However, this does not take into account that modern wars are increasingly unfolding in the “grey zone”, that is, outside the framework of international law, they are conducted both in physical and in other dimensions – informational, cybernetic, cultural, cognitive – and mainly by non-military means and with the involvement of irregular formations (rebels, terrorists, etc.). As a result, today’s interstate confrontation is becoming more complex and hybrid, presenting new mechanisms for non-nuclear deterrence.It is important to understand that the inability to recognize the enemy’s ongoing war in time, to determine the direction of the strike destroyed many states, starting with the Roman Empire and ending with the USSR. This determines the relevance and timeliness of this study, which is aimed at analyzing the content of the phenomenon of hybrid war, determining the main methods of its conduct used today and proposing counteraction measures.It should be recognized that in the modern scientific literature there is no single approach to understanding what a hybrid war is, which is quite understandable precisely because of its essence – the variability and complexity of ways of it conducting, as well as flexibility and adaptability to specific circumstances. There are quite a lot of disparate studies on individual components of hybrid war, such as “soft power”, information, economic and cyberwar, “color revolutions”, etc.The subject of this research is the phenomenon of hybrid warfare, its content and specific ways of conducting hybrid warfare. The purpose of this work is to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the subject of research, as well as to structure the manifestation that form the phenomenon of hybrid war in its complex, determine their correlation and mutual influence of various methods of conducting hybrid war, as well as to develop specific proposals for countering threats to Russia’s national security.The importance of developing comprehensive strategic approaches aimed primarily at identifying vulnerabilities, as well as including spiritual security as the basis of the entire security system and countering hybrid threats is emphasized.Taking into account the specified subject and purpose, the introduction reveals the relevance of the study of the phenomenon of hybrid war and the danger that this type of interstate confrontation poses for Russia. Then we analyze the concept of hybrid war and its content, as well as the four main ways of conducting it. The results of the analysis are followed by conclusions and proposals on countering threats to Russia’s national security.

Keywords

• hybrid warfare
• hybrid threats
• soft power
• information warfare
• information security
• cybersecurity
• social networks
• critical infrastructure
• national security