Russian hybrid warfare

Russian hybrid warfare are Russian efforts to foster instability in other countries using conventional and unconventional means, while avoiding all-out war.

2014-2022

Russian soldiers without insignia (″little green men″) assisting in the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the proxies used by Russia in eastern Ukraine are often the focus of Western assessments of Russian hybrid warfare. Other Russian hybrid efforts preceding the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine that started in 2022 include the broad disinformation campaigns targeting the 2016 US election and the Brexit referendum.

2022-present

In the years following the invasion of Ukraine, there have been several incidents in Europe linked to Russian hybrid warfare. In 2022, Estonia was the target of a Russian hacking campaign, which it fended off. Also in 2022, the Norwegian police arrested several Russian nationals equipped with cameras and drones near oil and gas infrastructure.

Western sources have accused Russia of being responsible for the Nord Stream pipelines sabotage in September 2022.

In April 2024, the UK claimed that Russia was behind an arson attack targeting a Ukraine-linked business warehouse in London.

During summer 2024, German and US intelligence reportedly prevented a Russian plot to assassinate European defense industry executives, including the CEO of Rheinmetall. In May, the foreign ministry of Estonia summoned the Russian embassy chief after a flights by a Finnish airline to eastern Estonia were paused due to GPS disturbances suspected to be caused by Russia. Following the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, almost all airlines flying over the Baltics have experienced navigation problems. Aside from signal jamming, other forms of Russian hybrid aggression against countries like Finland, Poland and Sweden described are violations of territorial waters and air space, and encouraging or permitting migrants from third countries to arrive at borders in large numbers through Russia and Belarus.

In October 2024, British counter-terror police said that they had been investigating a suspected Russian plot involving hidden incendiary devices on a plane to the UK. The plot may have been a test for a similar attack on Canada and the US. In October the head of MI5 Ken McCallum warned that Russian military intelligence were active in a campaign to ″generate mayhem″ on European and British streets using proxies that ″further reduces the professionalism of their operations″.

In November 2024, amidst intensifying Russian hybrid warfare efforts in Europe, two undersea cables in the Baltic Sea were damaged in another instance of suspected Russian sabotage. The Chinese-flagged ship Yi Peng 3 was allegedly captained by a Russian as it passed the two cables at approximately the same time as each was cut. The deputy head of NATO's Allied Maritime Command had earlier in the year said that Russia and other malicious actors were targeting the vulnerable and extensive piped and underwater cables connecting Europe's energy and communications networks.

The Russian Orthodox Church has been described as one strand in Russian covert operational activity against European states that support Ukraine. In 2024, the Swedish Security Service concluded that a recently consecrated Russian Orthodox church built in Västerås was linked to Russia intelligence operations, adding that the Kremlin uses the Russian Orthodox Church in Sweden as a platform for such operations. The church was located near an airport used for Swedish military exercises and other critical national infrastructure.

International reactions

German intelligence chief Bruno Kahl said in November 2024 that Russia's extensive use of hybrid warfare ″increases the risk that NATO will eventually consider invoking its Article 5 mutual defence clause″.

The Baltic States have been among the biggest advocates in NATO for the alliance taking steps to counter the Russian threat, with many believing that with the increased Russian hybrid attacks, NATO's eastern flank will be the next to be targeted if Russia wins in Ukraine.

Russia's view on hybrid warfare

According to the Institute for the Study of War, Russia defines the concept of hybrid wars precisely as a type of war, rather than a set of means to conduct state policy. The Russian Armed Forces openly discuss ongoing conflicts as hybrid wars, and Russia sees hybrid wars as the future of military development.