The recent Russian intervention in Ukraine has sparked much controversy over the use and effectiveness of hybrid warfare. The latter is a method of waging a war that is widely believed to combine conventional and non-traditional, open and hidden, regular and irregular means, as well as information and cyber warfare. Over the past decade, some of the world’s most powerful militaries and coalitions, including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, have tried to address and counter so-called hybrid threats.
It seems that when implementing a policy of protectionism, one should give preference to hidden methods. In particular, to artificially reduce the volume of products imported into the country, the governments of some states introduce countless technical and administrative rules of trade, which complicate the exchange of goods and services.
The governments of all states, being the subjects of the respective economic systems, carry out the purchase of very significant volumes of goods and services in their activities. Thereby, they largely determine the structure and intensity of trade flows in countries’ internal and external trade. At the same time, almost all governments tend to purchase products of mainly domestic production, even if they are more expensive than similar imported products. However, the economic sphere is not the only area in which hidden methods are applied.
Like other major military powers, Russia possesses military and non-military means of struggle that can be used in peacetime or a low-intensity armed conflict. This arsenal, in its current form, was created mainly during the Cold War era. Covert and unrecognized military interventions, support for rebel movements, and the creation of quasi-volunteer formations for interventions abroad.
Combined with disinformation, propaganda, and opposition support, have been used by all major countries in the past. However, now this is unacceptable since openness is needed, and this applies to all areas of activity of a particular country.