Evidence on Russia’s hybrid war and its implications for UK defence, written by a Bournemouth University (BU) academic and his collaborator Brigadier (Rtd) Anthony Paphiti, former ALS officer, has been submitted to the UK Parliament’s Select Defence Committee.
The paper, which outlines the concept of hybrid warfare and discusses the vulnerabilities arising from the treat of Russia’s potential use of such a mode of war, was submitted to the Committee as it looks to analyse Russian defence policy and its implications on UK defence and security.
Dr Sascha-Dominik Bachmann, Associate Professor in Law at BU, co-authored the paper and said, “Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its open support of the separatists in the bloody conflict taking place in Eastern Ukraine since 2015 together with the global war against ISIL/Daesh in Iraq and Syria have brought a new terminus of conflict terminology into our dictionary: the term of Hybrid War. A particular focus is on ‘lawfare’ that is the use of law to achieve military and political objectives.”
It is hoped that the acceptance of this paper will pave the way for the team to be invited to give oral evidence on the subject or continue to support the Select Defence Committee moving forward.
Dr Bachmann concluded, “We are very pleased to see our work being used in this way as it highlights the importance of collaborations across academic disciplines in attracting an interest from policy makers, the military and the security industry.”
To view the paper given as evidence, visit http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/defence-committee/inquiries/parliament-2015/russia-inquiry-15-16/