Section: International Relations and Security Network (Switzerland)
Russian Energy Policies Revisited
This paper focuses on 1) Russia’s energy policies since the political crises in and around Ukraine, and 2) the significant structural changes that are occurring in the country’s gas, oil and electricity sectors. More specifically, the text’s authors contemplate the future of EU-Russia energy relations and how Russia’s...
Hybrid Warfare: Iranian and Russian Versions of “Little Green Men” and Contemporary Conflict
This paper both compares and analyzes the types of hybrid or non-linear warfare being conducted by Russia in Eastern Ukraine and by Iran in the Shia-majority areas of Iraq. The text’s author ultimately contends that both approaches represent “acts of preclusive imperialism” that are intended to establish new spheres of influence...
Russian Analytical Digest No 176: Russia and the Baltic/Poland
This issue of the RAD examines Russia’s current relations with Poland and the three Baltic States. The first article contrasts the historical roles played by the states — as an East-West bridge or a peripheral border outpost — with the post-Crimea role they now play, which rests on providing a frontline counterbalance to the...
The Silence of the Guns: Can the Cease-Fire in Donbass Last?
This paper argues that there has been a “nearly proper” cease-fire in the Donbass region of Ukraine since September 2015. The reasons are obvious enough — i.e., the political-military balance on the ground, the current sanctions against Russia, and Moscow’s diverted interest in the Syrian Civil War. But what about...
Military Power Revue Nr. 2 / 2015
This edition of Military Power Revue features six articles on assorted hard power topics. Five of the articles (in German) focus on 1) the need for police forces to develop “new security habits” against hybrid threats; 2) Russia’s reliance on hybrid warfare in the Ukraine crisis 2014-2015; 3) the tug of war between specialized or multi-role...
The Militarization of Crimea under Russian Occupation
This brief argues that the Kremlin has tightened its grip on Crimea while the world has shifted its attention to Syria and elsewhere. Indeed, Moscow’s mass relocation of Russian military servicemen to the peninsula is just one case in point. It has 1) spurred housing shortages and massive infrastructure projects, and 2) complicated what the...
Putin’s Information Warfare in Ukraine: Soviet Origins of Russia’s Hybrid Warfare
This report focuses on Russia’s reliance on hybrid warfare against Ukraine ever since early 2014. More specifically, the text’s author argues that Moscow has relied heavily on an element of information warfare called “reflexive control,” which is a form of perception management that stresses 1) denial and deception...
Back to the Future? Russia’s Hybrid Warfare, Revolutions in Military Affairs, and Cold War Comparisons
This paper provides an overview of Russia’s hybrid warfare strategy and capabilities as well as how these capabilities came about as a part of the wider modernization of the country’s military in the post-Cold War period. The author also speculates on whether Russia’s 2014 use of hybrid warfare in Ukraine and NATO’s...
The Impact of Sanctions against Russia
Following the imposition of sanctions against Russia in response to its 2014 annexation of Crimea and its subsequent military intervention in Eastern Ukraine, some EU member states have claimed that they have been particularly hard hit because exports to Russia are important to their economies. This commentary shows, however, that the economic...
Zakarpattia-Together, But Separated
This commentary discusses the deteriorating political and security situation in Ukraine’s Zakarpattia (Transcarpathia) region, one of the poorest and most ethnically diverse in the country. The authors argue that, rather than fighting crime and corruption in the region, the Ukrainian central government has given its leader Viktor Baloha and...
