Third Annual BALTDEFCOL Conference on Russia, 15th-17th February 2017

The Baltic Defence College organised the Annual Conference on Russia, entitled ‘Non-Linear Warfare: The Russian Challenge’, which took place on 15th-17th 2017, at the Dorpat Conference Centre, Tartu. The conference was organised in partnership with the University of Tartu, Swedish Defence University, NATO Defence College and National Defence Academy of Latvia.

Altogether, with 36 speakers and 200 participants, this conference is one of the biggest conferences on Russia studies in the region. Among the speakers were scholars, analysts, practitioners and military officers from Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Sweden, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States, and from other Euro-Atlantic countries.

Keynote speakers included:

Over thirty panellists then presented on panels including:

• Russia’s Geostrategic Ambitions
• Theorising Non-Linear Warfare
• Russia’s Non-Linear Warfare in Practice
• Russia’s Non-Linear Warfare in Practice
• ‘Night Owl’: Russian Non-Linear Warfare: Case Studies
• Euro-Atlantic Responses to Russian Non-Linear Warfare
• Russian Non-Linear Warfare: Enhancing Baltic Resilience

The following topics were discussed during the conference:

• Theorising non-linear warfare in the twenty-first century;
• Doctrinal, strategic and operational-level components of Russia’s modern warfare;
• Case studies on particular types of non-linear warfare in various national and regional contexts (e.g., political, information, narrative, memetic, electronic, cyber in Ukraine, Syria and the Wider Baltic region);
• Responding to the challenge of non-linear warfare.

The discussions during the diverse panels were very successful and constructive. Baltic Defence College is thankful for all its partners for helping to co-organise the Annual Conference on Russia, as well as to the guests for coming and debating during the panels.

For further information, including photos of the conference, please click here.