Russian Hybrid Warfare and Influence: Small States in the Intersection Between East and West

This open access anthology takes a holistic approach to how Russia carries out hybrid warfare against its neighbouring countries - states at the intersection between the East and West.

The book addresses the vulnerabilities of these countries to Russian influence and hybrid warfare tactics, as well as their responses to this security challenge. It includes a close examination of local developments in states such as Ukraine, Belarus, Finland, Armenia, Serbia and many others, analysing specific scenarios and practices, and draws on these observations to develop the current conceptual understanding of hybrid warfare as a phenomenon. Scholarship frequently focuses only on Russia and treats countries subjected to Russian hybrid measures as passive victims, thus providing an overly schematic picture of Russian behaviour. This book instead treats these states as actors in their own right, assessing their potential to address and counter the specific security problems arising from their geographic and political position.

The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com.

Niklas Nilsson is Senior Lecturer in War Studies at the Swedish Defence University, Sweden. He is also a co-convenor of the Hybrid Warfare Research Group (HWRG), a Senior Research Fellow with the Institute for Security & Development Policy, and Managing and Associate Editor of CACI Analyst.

Mikael Weissmann is Associate Professor in War Studies and Head of Research & Deputy Head of the Land Operations Section at the Swedish Defence University, Sweden. He is the Director of Studies of the PhD program in War Studies and co-convenor of the Hybrid Warfare Research Group (HWRG).