EPRC on Russia’s Hybrid War Strategy

On February 24th, the expert community of Tbilisi headed to Rooms Hotel Tbilisi for a presentation by the Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC). EPRC’s new report – “Hybrid Warfare and the Changing Security Landscape in the Euro-Atlantic Area – Political and Economic Implications” is dealing, as title might not exactly imply, mostly with challenges Georgia is facing in the ever-present battle for survival between Georgia and its big northern neighbor. The 30 page report is published with support of The Open Society Georgia Foundation (OSGF) as part of the Economic NATO Policy Paper Series.

The emergence of revisionist Russia and its employment of hybrid means for attaining strategic and/or political objectives have challenged the traditional Western concept of a Europe whole and free and at peace, and the most important institutions for this concept are NATO and the EU – reads the foreword of a report that is strewn with calls for more, well, everything– as the people behind the research seem to be genuinely unhappy about every step the so-called new government has taken to address the issues emphasized in the report, believing Georgia is alarmingly close to succumbing to Russia’s hybrid warfare.

“The weaponization of non-military means as a “new form” of achieving political goals fundamentally alters the current security, economic and political landscape and poses numerous questions not only about the nature of threats we are facing but also about the ability of the existing security institutions to counter those challenges. Though neither the concept nor the essence of the Hybrid warfare is completely original, it bears characteristics that are peculiar to Russia’s new or well-forgotten old warfare model.”

The report offers a range of activities to deter and counter those threats. According to the EPRC, Georgia and its partners should develop a well-coordinated and coherent strategic approach in multiple dimensions: Defense and Security; Economy, trade and development; Energy diversification and security; Democratic institution building; Strategic communication and communication strategies; and Education and people-to-people relations.

At the end of the presentation, attendees were invited to discuss the situation at hand and, needless to say, the public was up to the task as it turned into a lively and interesting debate. Of particular interest were the insights of the representatives from the National Democratic Initiative (NDI) and that of the former Minister of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia, Nikoloz Rurua, who argued that the report needed more publicity and called for more media activity.

Vazha Taveberidze