Russia's Hybrid War against the Republic of Ukraine, Emphasis on Intelligence Strategy

After nearly six years of the start of the Ukraine crisis and the overthrow of the pro-Moscow government in Kiev, various views on Russia's behavior in the Ukraine crisis is still being presented. This research is intended to investigate why and how the Ukraine crisis continued from 2013 to 2018. Accordingly, Russia's strategy in Ukraine and the reasons behind it, make the main concern of this study which is addressed through ASCOPE model using hybrid warfare. Hence, the main question of the study involves how the Russian Federation used information warfare to influence the civilian population of Ukraine. In response to this question, the authors hypothesize that Russia's main goal concerns gaining the position of a superpower again and change the balance in its favor in competition with the West. As achieving the goal is no longer possible through symmetrical and traditional methods of warfare, Moscow has resorted to the new generation of warfare, i.e., hybrid warfare, using its wide-ranging tools such as cyber-attacks and communicating false news. Employing the ASCOPE model, the researchers have investigated the region, structures, capacities, organizations, individuals and the events of the 2014 crisis in Ukraine. The methods through which the Russia gained control of some regions by attracting parts of the civilian population, are also considered. This descriptive-analytical research is based on collecting data extracted from reliable scientific sources including books, scientific-research articles and Internet sites.