An authoritative analysis of how Putin's Russia conquered the Crimea in 2014 using 'grey zone' warfare techniques, blending operations by anonymous special forces with cyber, sabotage, and propaganda. Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 was almost bloodless - fought as much through propaganda, cyberattacks and subversion as by force of arms - but it is crucial for our understanding of both modern warfare and recent Russian history. Ironically, this slick triumph eventually led to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the largest and costliest conventional war in Europe since 1945. This is a fascinating account of the Crimea conquest from a supremely qualified expert on modern Russian forces. Illustrated throughout, it explores how Russia developed its new model of 'hybrid' or 'grey zone' warfare, and planned and deployed it against Crimea, from the choreographed appearance of 'spontaneous' protesters through to the deployment of unbadged Russian elite forces. In this book Mark Galeotti explores the lessons that Russia, Ukraine, and the West took from it - correctly and mistakenly - and how this apparently textbook operation sowed the seeds that would erupt so catastrophically in 2022.

An authoritative analysis of how Putin's Russia conquered the Crimea in 2014 using 'grey zone' warfare techniques, blending operations by anonymous special forces with cyber, sabotage, and propaganda.

About the Author
Professor Mark Galeotti is a scholar of Russian security affairs with a career spanning academia, government service and business, a prolific author and frequent media commentator. He heads the Mayak Intelligence consultancy and is an Honorary Professor at University College London as well as holding fellowships with RUSI, the Council on Geostrategy and the Institute of International Relations Prague. He has written widely, and his most recent book is Putin's Wars (2022)


Book Information
ISBN 9781472853844
Author Mark Galeotti
Format Paperback
Page Count 80
Imprint Osprey Publishing
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC