Russia's hybrid war

From Unian:

"Hybrid Warfare: Europe is only now thinking about security 

Pavel Lakiychuk, 19.09.25 

Clearly, the threat posed by Russia to Europe (and the entire Western world) is not a recent development. At the very least, it was demonstrated by Vladimir Putin at the Munich Security Conference in February 2007. In fact, it was then that he declared the concept that would later surface, beginning in 2008 in Georgia, and then in 2014 and 2022 in Ukraine.

Although many Americans and Europeans reacted to this, perhaps not with humor, but with a certain amount of amusement, it should have been taken more seriously back then. After all, even then, Russia was already considering hybrid warfare methods and how it would gradually implement them around the world.

The next step was the so-called Gerasimov Doctrine (a document developed by Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov and published in February 2013), which Russia continues to apply today and which, unfortunately, is working perfectly. Let me remind you that in 2014, the entire world listened on international platforms to Russians' stories about how it wasn't "us" in Ukrainian Crimea, but some unknown "little green men."

And even though Putin personally admitted in 2015 that it was the Russian army, many in the world still believe that those "little green men" were some mythical "Crimean self-defense"... The world, unfortunately, swallowed it.

Or another example: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declares that any foreign peacekeepers in Ukraine will be considered "occupation troops" and, therefore, will be "legitimate targets" for Russian military personnel. In other words, the idea is being spread that Russian troops, who are actually occupying cities and towns in Ukraine, are not occupiers at all. This is a crude insinuation (it's not articulated, but everyone should understand it) that Ukraine is supposedly already part of Russia, a sphere of Russian interests; that this isn't a war, but some kind of "civil conflict"; and that Russia isn't fighting the Defense Forces on Ukrainian territory, but rather "Ukrainian separatists." All of this is also a consequence of the "Gerasimov Doctrine."

Russia is also gradually increasing its aggression, gradually escalating the situation. Little by little, the line between war and not-yet-war is blurring. The point is that you're waging a real, albeit hybrid, war against your adversary. And only at some point does the adversary begin to realize that, yes, the war is already underway and they're already losing it. In other words, one side is already engaged in combat, while the other is afraid to admit they're under attack.

For four years now, Russian propagandists have made no secret of the fact that Russia is not at war with Ukrainians, but with NATO and America. At the same time, both Europe and the US are saying that this is not our war, and that we are not directly participating in it. In other words, the world doesn't want to hear or see the "reality" Russia is creating. This is, in fact, the "Gerasimov Doctrine" in full bloom...

In addition, there is the American factor, and hope for NATO's fifth article is gradually fading. But it’s never too late to take any safety measures."