An important feature of hybrid war is its adjustment to each country - Robert Ondrejcsak

“One of the important features of hybrid war is its adjustment to each individual country”,  Robert Ondrejcsak, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Defence of Slovakia, expressed such opinion at 10th Kyiv Security Forum held by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk Foundation Open Ukraine.

“As regards the strategy of hybrid warfare, one of its features is the adjustment to each individual country. Therein lies the problem of responding to it, because each country has its own experience of confronting hybrid warfare, which is not always effective for other countries”, Robert Ondrejcsak said.

Speaking about the goals of a hybrid war, Robert Ondrejcsak, in particular, noted such aims as limiting the ability of the society to respond to real and potential threats and achieving the failure of political elites to fulfill their tasks during a crisis.

The State Secretary of the Slovak Defense Ministry also mentioned that hybrid warfare was not a new phenomenon, however today it is characterized by new tools and extended duration.

“In general, hybrid warfare is not a new phenomenon. But today we should note the new tools of hybrid war and its extended duration. Such new tools include social networks, which are widely used for propaganda by the aggressor.

It also includes support for anti-European and anti-Euro-Atlantic forces, which are small, marginalized, but they exist and they are well coordinated, focused and active enough. Therefore, they should be taken into account, because if they are ignored, they can take a lot of space in the information space and become a real threat”, Robert Ondrejcsak noted.

As regards the awareness of the Slovak society for hybrid aggression on the part of Russia against Ukraine, the Slovak official said that this topic is one of the main fields of discussion.

“There are some discrepancies between Slovakia and Ukraine in the understanding of hybrid war. Fortunately, Slovakia does not face the scourge of direct aggression, but this does not mean that it does not affect us. One of the consequences is that today Russian hybrid aggression is one of the main topics for discussion in Slovakia”, Robert Ondrejcsak noted.

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Kyiv Security Forum was launched by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk Foundation Open Ukraine in 2007 is an annual international event to high-level discussions on the current issues in the Black Sea region and wider Europe. The Forum aims at increasing security cooperation between the EU and the Black Sea region, raising awareness about regional developments among key regional players, promoting the role of independent and non-governmental actors in setting the security agenda in Europe.