Information has become on of Russia’s key tools in hybrid war against Ukraine - Bogdan Klich

“One of the main elements that were applied in Ukraine in the framework of the hybrid war is an information war. It was applied because it was necessary to prepare the ground for further operations, and in this case, the consciousness of Ukrainians mattered a lot”. This is the opinion of Bogdan Klich, Senator, Minister of National Defense of Poland (2007-2011) spoken out at 10^th Kyiv Security Forum held by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk Foundation Open Ukraine.

Bogdan Klich noted that the elements of information warfare were used by Russia in Ukraine, both during the Revolution of Dignity, and in the course of the illegal annexation of the Crimea, and in the military intervention in Donbas: “This dimension of hybrid war was not only practically applied here, but it was used on the battlefield as one of the elements that accompanied the military actions of the Kremlin”.

At the same time, he added that the information war could be applied separately, for example, in the political process, as it was done during the elections of the President of the United States.

Bogdan Klich compared these two operations of Russia – in Ukraine and in the United States – and came to the conclusion that the first had a greater scale and was better designed. According to him, in the course of operations in Ukraine, Russia used not only propaganda but also misinformation, the proliferation of fakes. “In your country, the Kremlin appealed to the post-Soviet consciousness, trying to recover and revive those remnants of the Soviet mentality that still exist”, he explained.

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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.