General Sir Adrian Bradshaw described the Russian military doctrine – often known as hybrid war – by which it subverts and undermines the stability of its neighbours by combining all of its capabilities. It starts with unmarked troops and gradually builds up, and thus establishes what Bradshaw called “escalation dominance”.
"For NATO, this new way of warfare holds pronounced dangers. You cannot be sure a sovereign nation is behind it,” he said. He then listed the 30 different explanations that Russian media outlets have used to justify the attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury. “The new Russian way of disinformation is to fill the information domain with so much stuff you can't tell what's right or wrong."
This was not limited to Ukraine and Britain, he said that Russian money had been stirring up unrest between Muslims and Christians in Bulgaria and Bosnia, and the Western countries were struggling to know how to respond. "It's very important to keep the momentum behind the things we have been doing in response to Russia's actions in Ukraine."
But Vladimir Putin would get truly dangerous if ever he felt like his position was threatened. “At the moment his domestic popularity is huge, the envy of Western politicians,” Bradshaw said. “I think things get really dangerous if he looks like falling off his perch, particularly if things get particularly nasty.”
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