Expert Highlights Elements Of Russia's Undeclared War Against West

(MENAFN- UkrinForm) Russia's undeclared war against the West is intensifying, leveraging fear, destabilization and covert operations to undermine NATO unity and Western resilience.

That's according to a report posted by RUSI, penned by Oleksandr Danylyuk, the think tank's associate fellow, Ukrinform saw.

The scope and audacity of Russian operations carried out against Western nations is increasing, the article reads noting that this points to the intensification of Russian efforts not only to militarily seize Ukraine, but also to destabilize and capture the West.

Despite the fact that Russia has not formally declared war on any of the Western powers, Russian media, opinion leaders, civil society and some military leaders in Russia have repeatedly claimed that Russia is indeed“waging war against NATO in Ukraine”.

Moreover, the Russian elite are also convinced that Ukraine is only an obstacle on the path of Russia's wider war against the West, the article notes.

Moscow's expansionism aims to establish a new world order in which Russia would be able to claim hegemony. As defined by the main ideologist of the Russian world concept, Alexandr Dugin,“Russia's struggle for global dominance is not over”, which echoes with Vladimir Putin's infamous statement that Russia's borders“do not end anywhere”.

With the war in Ukraine, the Kremlin is trying to prove its point that the West is unable to defeat Russia, that the U.S. is unwilling to protect Europe and, as a result, that NATO is pointless.

For Russia, building strategic partnerships with other authoritarian nations that seek to change the existing status quo, is of great importance, the expert stresses, adding that NATO, symbolizing Western unity, so far undermines the potential for such global shifts. Therefore Russia views the war in Ukraine as“a strategic crisis designed to destroy this unity”.

“By effectively exploiting and fueling the fear of armed conflict with Russia and demonstrating the West's inability to protect itself or others, the Kremlin is also managing to ensure the steady rise in popularity of its own political proxies in NATO and Eastern Partnership countries, who advocate various forms of 'peaceful coexistence' with Russia – all of which are essentially just euphemisms for capitulation,” the expert warns.

A prime example is the outcome of the parliamentary elections in Georgia in October 2024. The pro-Russian Georgian Dream party, which controls the government, openly stated in its political campaigning that voting for pro-Western parties would inevitably lead to a Russian invasion, and used photographs of devastated Ukrainian cities.

Also, Russian influence operations in Europe are aimed at undermining the image of the U.S., NATO and the EU, portraying them as the main factors in a potential military escalation, the article reads.

A significant share of the pro-Russian political forces in Europe openly advocate the need to reduce their countries' participation in international security organizations in order to avoid war with Russia.

While it remains debatable how much the popularity of pro-Russian parties in Europe has increased and whether they have a real chance of forming governments in heavyweight member states, elections“are not the only way to gain power” as per Russia's sabotage guidebook.

The expert notes the recent expansion of the 161st GRU Specialist Training Center, known as Unit 29155, clearly indicating a growing demand in the Kremlin for unconventional warfare tools that can be used against the West.

“The unit's main specialisation has always been operations for political destabilisation and the seizure of power by force, attempts at which are known for certain in Montenegro, Moldova, Armenia and Spain. Strengthening the unit's capabilities, along with the mass recruitment of former high-ranking officers of the armed forces and intelligence services of NATO member countries, as well as active communication with extremist organisations of various ideological orientations in these countries, forms a set of tools that can be used for a wide range of unconventional operations, from riots and terrorism to armed separatism and coup d'état's,” the article stresses.

Preparations for war against the West can be observed not only in strategic units, but also in the Russian Spetsnaz (special operations forces).

One of their tasks is conducting sabotage operations on NATO soil, and even low-tier criminals – often recruited remotely – are now actively used to execute such missions.

“Sabotage actions have three goals. In addition to causing direct damage, these are the internal destabilisation of Europe and the undermining of trust in governments that are unable to effectively counter them, as well as preparing opportunities for the mass destruction of military and civilian infrastructure during a Russian military invasion,” the report says.

While heavily investing in bringing politicians to power across Europe who would serve Russia's purposes, Moscow is also actively building networks“that will only make sense in the event of a direct military invasion”, the expert believes.

This suggests that internal destabilization is viewed by the Kremlin not as an end goal but as a prerequisite for possible military aggression.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, the latest incident where an underwater fiber-optic cable was damaged in the Baltic Sea suggests that the Russians could have mastered a new type of aggression toward European nations, which is the "anchor attack", believes the Ukrainian Navy spokesman.

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