Hybrid War and the National Security of Russia

The article is devoted to the military conflicts of the XXI century and the existing approaches to their understanding of the foreign and domestic scientific literature. The subject of research is the phenomenon and theory of “hybrid war”, which originated in the late 1990s — early 2000s, and are widely used in current conditions. The founders of the term, theoretical concept and military doctrinal foundations of “hybrid war” are American military experts. The article reveals the stages of formation of the theory of hybrid war, the existing militarytheoretical and political-ideological approaches to the characterisation of its essence. The author emphasised the unfounded nature of the accusations against the Russian Federation about the “annexation of Crimea”, the implementation of “hybrid aggression” in the South-East of Ukraine and other regions. Further, the author presented the analysis of real, not fictional signs of “hybrid war”. The author concluded that hybrid wars are a new instrument of aggression of the neo-Imperial Western powers against sovereign States as opposed to the hegemony of the United States in the crisis of the unipolar world order. The necessity of improving the system of national security of Russia taking into account the USA and NATO unleashing against our country “hybrid war” and its possible escalation is substantiated.