The Components of Russia’s Undeclared War Against the West

Preparations for war against the West can be observed not only in strategic units, but also in the Russian Spetsnaz, for which another deputy head of the GRU, General Vladimir Alekseev, is responsible. Thus, according to information available to the European intelligence community, at the end of 2023, a new unit was created under Alekseev – the 236th Specialist Training Center, the purpose of which is to conduct sabotage operations on the territory of NATO countries, which were previously carried out by their colleagues from the Special Activities Service. This indicates both the need to focus the efforts of Averyanov’s subordinates on more strategic tasks, and plans to seriously scale up sabotage operations. Under modern conditions, when even low-level criminals are actively used to conduct such operations – often recruited remotely – the requirements for the qualifications of recruiters are significantly lower than in the past, and Spetsnaz officers can easily cope with such tasks. Considering that the total strength of Spetsnaz units is between 15,000 and 20,000 people, the lower quality of operations can be fully compensated by their number. For more complex operations, officers of the 322nd Specialist Training Center (Unit 92154), known as Senezh, can be used. Sabotage actions have three goals. In addition to causing direct damage, these are the internal destabilisation of Europe and the undermining of trust in governments that are unable to effectively counter them, as well as preparing opportunities for the mass destruction of military and civilian infrastructure during a Russian military invasion.

Thus, despite investing significant efforts in preparing the conditions for both legal and illegal changes to the political landscape in Europe and bringing politicians to power who serve its purposes, Russia is also actively building networks that will only make sense in the event of a direct military invasion. As in the case of Ukraine in 2014 and probably Georgia in 2025, this suggests that the internal destabilisation that such a change in the political landscape will inevitably entail, regardless of its success, is viewed by the Kremlin not as an end goal but as a prerequisite for possible military aggression. Russia’s undeclared war against the West is already underway, and the stubborn refusal to acknowledge this fact by most Western leaders makes the West’s defeat only a matter of time.

© Oleksandr V Danylyuk, 2025, published by RUSI with permission of the author

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