SPECIAL REPORT | NEW: Russia is operating within a war framework against Europe while Europe continues to function within a peace framework. A full-scale war between Russia and NATO is not inevitable or imminent, but NATO and European states must recognize the framework the Kremlin is using to conduct necessary efforts to deter Russian escalation.
The Kremlin is conducting several mutually supporting campaigns against Europe in order to support its full-scale invasion of Ukraine and advance its longstanding grand strategic objectives of breaking NATO and reestablishing dominant influence over former Soviet states.
ISW assesses that the Kremlin is conducting a series of overlapping campaigns to achieve at least two overarching strategic objectives: Reduce or eliminate European military and diplomatic support for Ukraine; and neutralize NATO as a unified alliance capable of opposing Russia.
The Kremlin is also conducting three coordinated military campaigns in distinct operational theaters targeting the airspace and territory of NATO member states and Moldova that are extensions of Russia's war in Ukraine.
The growing pace of Russian kinetic actions against Europe is intended to cause two effects: to raise NATO's threshold of what actions are considered worthy of a response, and to inure NATO governments and populations to constant alerts so that they do not take any individual Russian action seriously.
The Kremlin also benefits, however, from European underreaction to the Kremlin's ongoing campaigns, and particularly from the analysts and public officials who reject any discussion of ongoing Russian kinetic campaigns against Europe or warnings of the near-term Russian threat out of hand. Finding a balance between necessary urgency and panic will be incredibly challenging in the face of both Russian information operations and good faith policy disagreements, but NATO and Europe must address this balance.
The difficulty European governments face in acknowledging that Russia is operating within a war framework and pursuing actual military lines of effort against and within European states is proof of the success of Russian cognitive warfare efforts. European political parties and populations must understand the degree to which they have been conditioned by extensive Russian efforts to avoid calling Russian actions what they are — parts of a military campaign intended to achieve discrete effects.
No one desires a war with Russia. The purpose of describing the Russian war framework and advocating for responses to it is to avoid escalation and conventional war. Europe (and the United States) must find a way to open their discourse to the idea that they must recognize the war framework.