Pensée et culture stratégiques russes

To be published on April 20, 2023 in the "54" collection of the Éditions de la MSH

"Pensée et culture stratégiques russes. Du contournement de la lutte armée à la guerre en Ukraine"

- At the roots of the war in Ukraine -

This book focuses on the theorization of the circumvention of armed struggle in post-Soviet Russian strategic thinking. While significant research has been conducted on the application of Russian indirect strategies in post-Soviet and Western countries, analysis of their conceptual roots and the military strategists who produce them is still lacking, thus hindering not only the identification of the concepts and notions actually used by Russian military theorists, but also the understanding of the deep logics structuring post-Soviet Russian strategic thinking. Based on an examination of Russian military literature, which has not yet been widely researched, doctrinal documents and speeches by Russian military and political officials, this history and strategy book is also based on biographical data on the country's main senior officers and generals, as well as civilians close to the Russian General Staff and Ministry of Defense. In addition to an analysis of the concepts, notions, and debates through which Russian military theorists have attempted to understand the characteristics of a modern warfare that is less and less centered on armed struggle, this book explores the cognitive frameworks of these strategists, made up of beliefs, perceptions, and a strategic culture that, although often neglected in the post-Soviet Russian military context, are an essential key to understanding Russian military doctrinal and institutional changes since the fall of the USSR.

The author

Dimitri Minic is a researcher at the Ifri's Russia/NEI Center. He holds a PhD in the history of international relations from Sorbonne University and received funding from the Ministry of the Army for his thesis, entitled "Bypassing armed struggle: Russian strategic thinking in the face of the evolution of war, 1993-2016."

His research focuses on Russian strategic thinking, military, and hybrid and high-intensity capabilities. He also works on the issues of strategic culture and threat perception of Russian political-military elites.