How the Russian army changed its concept of war, 1993–2022

Abstract

The traditional and high-intensity war that has occured in Ukraine since Russia decided to invade raises a key issue: did post-soviet Russian strategic thought really prepare Russia for waging this war? An analysis of Russian military sources shows that the ‘special military operation’ was not supposed to lead to such a war. Quite the contrary, it was part of the post-Soviet Russian military theorizing about bypassing armed struggle. To understand this theorization and its long-term implementation in Ukraine, it is necessary to analyze the main Russian military debate since 1993: what is war?.