Russia continues to challenge NATO and the West as a whole by employing a wide range of malign hybrid tactics.
This was stated by NATO’s Senior Representative in Ukraine, Patrick Turner, during an interview with Ukrinform.
“Recently, we have witnessed a more aggressive, more active, and more overt Russian use of hybrid tactics, including sabotage, cyberattacks, instrumentalization of migration, attacks on national critical infrastructure, threats to underwater infrastructure, and so on,” the diplomat said.
“But Russia continues to challenge, interfere, and engage in illegal activities in those countries, including unwanted espionage,” emphasized NATO’s Senior Representative.
According to Turner, by intensifying hybrid tactics against allies following the annexation of Crimea and the invasion of Donbas, Russia made a mistake.
“When another country—whether it’s Russia or anyone else (like China, which has also made some unwanted intrusions into other countries)—begins to interfere in various ways in other nations, seeking to undermine them, this ultimately warns the targeted countries that Russia is a problem for them as well, not just for the nations bordering Russia or only for Ukraine,” Turner said.
Responding to a question about how exactly the Alliance intends to combat the Kremlin’s hybrid attacks, the diplomat said that NATO had agreed on a range of possible measures to be taken in response to such interference.
“This could include intelligence sharing, sometimes it could simply be the exposure of those attacks, openly talking about them, shaming those responsible. There are also defensive measures in the cyber domain or underwater infrastructure, as well as further limiting the operations of Russian intelligence operatives. Some measures can be taken collectively or by individual allies, but if countries launch deliberate attacks on our nations, then they must pay a price, and this applies to Russia and any other actor involved. At the same time, such actions by Russia will not stop NATO from supporting Ukraine,” the diplomat emphasized.
“We will continue to defend our territories and populations against any kind of hostile action. We also welcome the new EU sanctions targeting hybrid threats, announced last week,” said NATO’s Senior Representative in Ukraine.
As reported, EU High Representative Josep Borrell believes that Russia’s imperialist war against Ukraine has proven the need for the prioritization of the development of Europe’s defense industry and applied technology. This war is, in fact, seen as an existential threat to the European Union, Borrell wrote in his blog posted on the website of the EU External Action Service.
