Hybrid warfare may force the world to grow up – Victoria Sumar

“The price that the whole world may pay for the hybrid war is a retreat from liberal principles. At the same time, it would be the price for growing up”, Victoria Sumar, Member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, expressed this opinion at 10^th Kyiv Security Forum held by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk Foundation Open Ukraine.

“Ukraine has already paid the price for the hybrid war – it includes the annexation of the Crimea and the occupation of Donbas. Even now Ukraine continues to pay this high price: every day in the East of Ukraine innocent people are being killed. At the same time, if we talk about the price that the whole world may pay for the hybrid war is a retreat from liberal principles. However, it can be the price for growing up”, Victoria Sumar stated.

Speaking about the Ukrainian experience of confronting hybrid warfare, Sumar noted that Ukraine had developed its own case, which, however, is not fully liberal.

“As of today, we have developed our own case, however, I must admit that it is not fully liberal. One of the first our basic decisions was to close Russian TV channels in Ukraine. We had a lot of resistance on the part of international organizations and criticism for this decision. But, if we had not taken this decision, I believe that back in May 2014, we would have lost Odesa”, the Member of Parliament noted.

Additionally, she noted that along with this step Ukraine had to take even stricter measures, including the ban on Russian film industry, which currently executed the orders of the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and thus is involved in the Russian propaganda.

Apart from this, Victoria Sumar mentioned the other measures taken in Ukraine to counter the hybrid warfare.

“We took to media-education to teach people how to distinguish truth from deception. We are also interested in German experience, which has recently taken the shape of the law which requires social networks to report fake messages within 24 hours. If a social network ignores a complaint of a user about the presence of a fake message or misinformation, it will be imposed a fine in the amount of 5 to 50 million Euros, and this does not really fit the image of liberal Europe. However, this is an interesting experience for us and we will study it”, the Member of Parliament said.

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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.