EU Eastern Partnership, Hybrid Warfare and Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

Abstract

This article aims to conceptualise and map Europe’s Eastern Partnership that is under attack from the outside – notably by Russia. It analyses the impacts of Russia’s hybrid warfare on the European Union. Russia’s relationship with the West is characterised by the collective trauma and stigma associated with the disintegration of the USSR, which inspired Putin’s geopolitical vision. However, in recent years, Putin’s Russia has sought to re-establish itself on the world stage by projecting power, harking back to the height of Soviet influence in the 1970s and 1980s. In this endeavour, Russia has used both private military companies and far-right terrorist groups in its hybrid war strategy against the European Union. This article analyses this development, suggesting that Russia is aiming to establish itself as an expansionist power in Europe with little regard for international law and norms.