| Summary/Abstract |
NATO and Russia are locked in a self-reinforcing cycle of biased perceptions of each other. NATO and Russia entertain opposed world visions and conflicting narratives: This situation tends to create a ‘defensive inferiority’ syndrome that will be explored. In turn, NATO’s advances in Russia’s ‘near abroad’ are perceived as a threat by the Kremlin, thus maximizing the potential for errors and unwanted provocation that could trigger military escalation. Against this background, Russia has been negatively engaging NATO members through direct and indirect destabilization. If there is no such thing as a primer for Russian warfare, the second part of the article will show that the Kremlin’s strategy is far from unpredictable and can be defined as a ‘punish and spoil’ approach, i.e., a mix of brute force and unconventional means ranging from ‘hybrid’ warfare to ‘gray area diplomacy’.
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