READY FOR TODAY – EVOLVING FOR TOMORROW
THE KREMLIN’S TIMELESS
WEAPON: AMBIGUITY
Captain Robert Atchison, British Army
Ambiguity is defined as “the quality of being open to more than one interpretation;
inexactness.” 1 Numerous modern warfare journals refer to the ‘hybrid’ nature of Russia’s
contemporary, full spectrum, multi-level strategies and tactics. Stating they are hybrid
suggests they are new; they are not.
What is new is the
way the Kremlin has
harnessed modern
technology to
challenge the West
in an area it has
dominated since 1991
– the information
environment.
The Kremlin’s
strategic theme is
more accurately
described as
‘ambiguous warfare’.
When the Kremlin looks to the West
it sees a centre of gravity in our ability
to form military alliances to protect our
vital, collective interests. The purpose
of ambiguous warfare is to damage or
degrade this capability. It encourages
the West to view its adversaries as
undefined, constantly morphing, unique
entities. To effectively counter attacks,
responses must be tailored and targeted
to be effective. The Kremlin’s rule of
Russia is authoritarian, enabling dynamic
action at a geo-strategic level. 2 3 The
West, however, is ruled by consensus.
Delays are common due to the
democratic, ‘council’ nature of decision-
making. These delays are exploited to
divide public opinion, leading to a greater
demand on resources from contributing
countries. These extra demands lead to
the degradation of public, and therefore
political, consensus that manifests itself
in slower political decision-making.
The West has seen in Syria over the
last three years how Russian media,
controlled by the Kremlin, has told
untruths about its campaign, telling the
wider world one story and the Russian
people another. For example, the Kremlin
repeatedly highlights how accurate its
weapons are via state-controlled media
(RT and Sputnik). However, in reality
80 per cent of all Russian munitions
dropped or fired are ‘dumb’ and have
no guidance systems. 4 Taking these
two themes further, the establishment
of context is vital to understand how the
Kremlin divides the information domain.
Control of context enables the planning of
information operations, critically including
the assumption that information given to
one target audience will proliferate to
another, rarely controlled and not always
by design. There is an acceptance that
the informational effect may evolve both
positively and/or negatively; it is this
uncertainty that is relished within the
Kremlin, where the West seeks to avoid
it at all costs. 5
The Kremlin has successfully established
echo chambers at every level, from the
geo-strategic to tactical, simultaneously
messaging into all of them. 6 Importantly,
their modern cyber soldiers are given
1 “Ambiguity,” Dictionary, Google, https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=define+ambiguity&oq=define+ambiguity&aqs=chrome..69i57.7279j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-
8&safe=active&ssui=on.
2 Author Unknown, “Putin’s New Authoritarian Russia,” The Global State, February 6, 2015, http://theglobalstate.com/currentevents/putins-new-authoritarian-russia.
3 Luke Chambers, “Authoritarianism and Foreign Policy: The twin pillars of a resurgent Russia,” Eurasia Review, June 14, 2010, http://www.eurasiareview.com/14062010-authoritarianism-and-
foreign-policy-the-twin-pillars-of-resurgent-russia/.
4 Kareem Shaheen, “Russia suspected of using ‘dumb’ bombs to shift blame for Syria war crimes,” The Guardian, March 6, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/06/russia-
suspected-of-using-dumb-bombs-to-shift-blame-for-syria-war-crimes.
5 Dennis Gibson and Stephen Moore, “Retaking the High Ground,” Booz, Allen, Hamilton, 2017, https://www.defenseone.com/media/sponsored-info-ops-retaking-high-ground.pdf.
6 Shannon Fisher, “Are you in a Social Media Echo Chamber? How to take an Objective Look,” Forbes, February 28, 2018, https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2018/02/28/are-you-in-a-social-
media-echo-chamber-how-to-take-an-objective-look/#193dccd261f9.
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