Hybrid tactics: neither new nor only Russian

Since the annexation of Crimea in March 2014, the spectre of ‘hybrid’ tactics (or threats) haunted both European and American security debates. This seemed to suggest that this was a new, highly effective form of warfare which posed complex challenges to the EU, NATO, and their neighbours.

However, hybrid tactics were neither new, nor exclusively (or primarily) Russian invention. They were as old as war itself, and Western states had often used elements of it quite effectively, at least on a tactical level.

Issue Alert by Nicu Popescu.

ESO: Background information: Do sanctions against Russia work? http://www.europeansources.info/record/do-sanctions-against-russia-work/

EUISS: Issue Alert, No.46, October 2015: Hybrid tactics: Russia and the West http://www.iss.europa.eu/publications/detail/article/hybrid-tactics-russia-and-the-west/

---