Alexander Martin
The head of the Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service has criticized the “misleading and soft” word “hybrid” being used to describe Russian acts of sabotage and subversion across the continent.
In a late panel discussion on Saturday at the Munich Security Conference, Kaupo Rosin protested the use of the word which has been applied to a range of hostile activities that are deemed to be deniable or below the threshold justifying an armed response.
“Hybrid schmybrid,” he said. “I think the word ‘hybrid’ is misleading and soft… What’s happening is attacks, cyberattacks, assassination plots, maybe in some parts it’s actually state-sponsored terrorism what is going on.”
Estonia, which was occupied by Russia during WWII — with tens of thousands of Estonian families deported to Russia, including the mother of former Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, now the European Union’s foreign policy chief — has been a vocal supporter of Ukraine as it resists Russia’s full-blown invasion.
The country, which has a population of only 1.4 million — approximately one-fifth of whom are considered ethnic Russians — has, similarly to Ukraine, been historically forced to defend against Moscow’s interference, although as a NATO member since 2004 it has not faced a military invasion.
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