The study, presented by Poland’s Anna Fotyga at a conference in Brussels on Wednesday, reveals how Russia is pursuing hybrid war to destabilise Ukraine, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
The study, co-authored by Kiev-based journalist Alya Shandra, is based on an analysis of hacked emails belonging to Vladislav Surkov, a top adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, which were obtained by Ukrainian cyberactivists in 2016-2017, Fotyga said on her website.
The report, entitled The Surkov Leaks: The Inner Workings of Russia's Hybrid War in Ukraine, outlines how the Kremlin is "re-inventing Soviet-era tactics to exert power and destabilise neighbouring countries," according to its authors.
The report shows that, in its hybrid war against Ukraine, Russia has used methods such as creating chaos, bribing local politicians, inspiring protests and manipulating the public, according to the IAR news agency.
It quoted Fotyga, a former Polish foreign minister, as saying that "Ukraine is a training ground for the concept of hybrid war developed by Russia.”
Fotyga, who presented the report to fellow Eurodeputies together with British Conservative MEP Geoffrey Van Orden, also said that Russia was testing its most modern tools in Ukraine for manipulating and influencing certain groups in society, according to IAR.
"We have a report that details activities that began in 2014 and continue to this day," Fotyga told MEPs, according to the IAR news agency.
Meanwhile, Shandra, who is editor-in-chief of the Kiev-based Euromaidan Press online newspaper, said that the leaked emails offered an insight into the inner workings of the Kremlin's strategy for destabilising neighbouring states through methods such as encouraging separatism and interference in elections, IAR reported.
(gs/pk)
Source: IAR, fotyga.pl