Marren Haneberg

Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko named former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili governor of Odessa in May 2015. In addition to governorship, Poroshenko bestowed honorary Ukrainian citizenship on Saakashvili, who lost his Georgian citizenship after being driven out of the country in a political conflict (“Ukraine names ex-Georgian…”). Saakashvili, who was offered the post due to his success lowering corruption in Georgia during his 2004 to 2013 presidency, resigned just a year later, in 2016. He cited Poroshenko’s corruption, saying that Poroshenko protected corrupt Ukrainians. In July 2017, Poroshenko stripped Saakashvili of his Ukrainian citizenship and arrested him. Saakashvili responded by barging through Ukraine’s Polish border with a crowd of supporters in September 2017. Police chased him onto a rooftop in December 2017. In February 2018, police arrested Saakashvili in a restaurant and deported him to Poland, a move which he called a kidnapping (“What’s behind Mikheil…”).

Since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Ukraine has struggled economically and politically (“Ukraine”). Ukraine is battling internal and external political struggles with Russian takeover of its east regions, which began in 2013. On November 24, 2013, in response to the Ukrainian government’s decision to reject a European Union (EU) trade agreement and move closer to Russia, around 100,000 protesters gathered in Ukraine’s capital, Kiev (“Ukraine crisis: Timeline”). These protests turned violent.

Russia is pursuing a hybrid warfare strategy, which is defined as unconventional use of force (Van Puyvelde 2015). Using this strategy, Russia lays groundwork to continue expansion by spreading misinformation. Though Russia’s takeover of Crimea prevents Ukraine from joining NATO, as it has resulted in a territorial dispute, NATO should prioritize preventing other Russian expansion first. NATO lacks substantive policies to mitigate the effects of Russian propaganda. NATO must develop a strategy to combat Russian hybrid warfare with the following objectives:

Russia is turning towards a hybrid warfare strategy, which is unconventional use of force (Van Puyvelde 2015). Using this strategy, Russia regularly interferes with other countries’ politics to achieve favorable political outcomes. On September 30, 2018, Macedonia (FYROM) will hold a referendum, which, if voters pass it, will bring the country a step closer to joining the European Union (EU). On September 17, 2018, US Defense Secretary James Mattis warned that Russia was funding referendum opposition groups (“Mattis Warns Against…” 2018). Further, Moscow’s ambassador to Skopje, Macedonia’s capital, threatened that Russia would make Macedonia a “legitimate target” if NATO and Russia came into conflict (“Shcherbak: In case…” 2018). This political interference is consistent with Russia’s past strategy of preventing countries from joining the EU, such as it did with the frozen South Ossetian conflict in Georgia (hyperlink yellow highlighted portion to: http://praemon.org/russian-hybrid-warfare/ .)