The Russian Doctrine—A Way for the Political Elite to Maximise the Efficiency of Information Warfare

Abstract

In 2013, General Gerasimov revealed the Russian perspective on how modern wars are waged in the West and called it “Western inventions and colour revolutions”. In response, the Russian Federation developed their own approach: they adopted similar ideas and actions to use against potential opponents. This approach became known as the “Russian concept of the hybrid war”. It covers all spheres (including information). Unfortunately, the West only has a limited understanding of the concept because they only analyse behaviour and actions but ignore the essence of the theory and the system that makes it efficient. Information warfare only constitutes a small part of the hybrid war. Russia perceives it as war and has ordered the military (the General Staff) to develop a theory (philosophy) and a set of rules and lead a system to wage the war. It is based on and represents certain beliefs. First, according to the theory, Russian actions are always justified. Second, Russia is constantly at war (not in peace). Thirdly, in order to win a war, the entire state (not just a single institution) must be involved, and finally, all activities of all participants must be synchronised, coordinated, and centralised. To achieve this, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) created a comprehensive system that involves both “soft” and “hard” power institutions in the hybrid war. The system is led by the MoD, more specifically, the National Defence Management Centre (NDMC). It supervises, manages, and synchronises all activities in the hybrid war.