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TheKremlin’sHybridWar
Themanydimensionsofhybridwarfare,EmilAvdaliani
Coordinatedcampaign
GeorgiaisagoodexampleofhowRussia’shybridstrategyhasdevelopedover
theyears.TeSouthCaucasuswasamongthefirstareastoexperienceacoordi-
natedcampaignofpropaganda,militaryandeconomicactions,specificallyaimed
againstsuccessivegovernmentsinTbilisi.Indeed,theWestonlystartedtopayat-
tentiontoRussia’shybridwarfareafterthewarinUkrainebegan.NATOandthe
EuropeanUniondocumentsthatincludedthetermuhybridwar”onlystartedto
appearafterRussia’sannexationofCrimeain2014.Tetermbegantospreadin
2015afterNATOSecretaryGeneralJensStoltenbergandtheHighRepresenta-
tiveoftheUnionforForeignAńairsandSecurityPolicyFedericaMogherinifirst
usedtheterm.
Despitethis,Georgiabegantoexperiencetheeńectsofhybridwarfarelong
before2014.TeseeńectsincludeRussia’slong-termsupportforAbkhazianand
Ossetianseparatistsandthesubsequentcreationoffrozenconflicts,whichcon-
tinuetopreventGeorgiafromjoiningWesterninstitutions.Tiswasthefirst
moderncaseofwarwheremilitary,economicandinformationcomponentswere
purposefullyintertwined.
TesetacticswerepopularduringtheperiodprecedingtheRussianinvasion
ofGeorgiain2008.Afterwards,theKremlindemonstratedanextraordinaryarray
oftoolsandtactics,whicheventuallyblendedintoanoverallstrategicvisionfo-
cusedoninfluencingamilitarilyandeconomicallyvulnerableGeorgia.Suchtools
haveincludeddisinformationcampaignstargetingspecificissues.Largerdisin-
formationcampaignscouldpotentiallydistortcertainhistoricalperiodsinGeor-
gianhistory,includingthehighlysensitiveissuesofAbkhaziaandSouthOssetia
(knownastheTskhinvaliRegiontoTbilisi),orperhapseventheoverallhistoryof
Georgia-Russiarelations.
CampaignstopolarisedińerentpartsofGeorgiansociety,specificallytheter-
ritoriespopulatedbyethnicminoritiesinthecountry’ssouthernregions,arealso
takingplace.Inthelastdecadeorsocyber-attackshavealsobeenusedtotarget
Georgia’senergy,militaryandeconomicsectors.Tisisinordertogathercritical
informationontheoperationsofstatebodies.Additionally,campaignsthattarget
governmentandmediawebsitesarenowalsocommon.In2019upto15,000state
andprivatemediawebsitesweretakendownbyhackers.Teywerereplacedby
animageoftheformerGeorgiaPresident,MikheilSaakashvili,withthecaption
uI’llbeback”
.AninvestigationconfirmedthatRussiawasthesourceofthisattack.
Russia’suseofthehybridwarfareinGeorgiahasbeenmotivatedspecificallyby
ageopoliticaldilemmaithasbeenfacingsincethe1990s.TisisnamelyTbilisi’s
burgeoningtieswiththeWest.Russiaconsiderssuchrelationsasanattemptby
