In the eyes of Russian military strategists and political technologists, they’re just catching up to the West and using its own strategies against it. More importantly, gibridnaya voina is really a combination of 2 different but related strategies. The first is a simple softening of a country before a ground invasion. It involves propaganda and political destabilization to undermine a country’s defenses. This is what the world saw in both Crimea and the Donbass region of Ukraine. The second strategy uses the same tactics and techniques, but it isn’t designed to soften a country for a ground invasion. When Russia opens up another RT affiliate in Western Europe, it’s using this strategy. The goal is simple — expand Russian soft power to make the world more agreeable to the Kremlin’s point of view.

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