, Columnist
The West Shouldn't Fear Russia's 'Hybrid Warfare'
Strong institutions and good governance are the best defense against petty interventions.
That was war. This is different.
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In the two years that have passed since Russia annexed Crimea, the expression "Russian hybrid warfare" has become a fixture in the Western political, media and academic lexicon. It's a catch-all for Russian hostility -- and a perfect mirror image of the Kremlin's own paranoia about the West.
The Atlantic Council recently published an article by Ruth Forsyth, a member of the think tank's Transatlantic Initiative, about Russia's actions to destabilize Germany. It mentioned a suspected Russian cyberattack on the German Bundestag in 2015, the recently increased visibility of the Russian-speaking community in Germany, and increased Russian espionage activity.