The Design of Russia’s Economic Warfare Against Ukraine

This article provides a case study on the use of economic tools within the concept of ‘hybrid warfare’ by looking at the Ukrainian-Russian conflict of 2014. The article makes the over-arching connection between discussions regarding the strategic use of Russian gas prices, trade manipulation, and debt leveraging. We further look at the macro-economic consequences of waging war in the country’s most industrialized zone. This article contributes to the literature by focusing exhaustively on the economic instruments used by Russia to weaken its opponent. We provide estimates regarding the scope of these modes of coercion by relying on a wide series of economic data. Extensive research indicates the difficulty to quantify the exact effects stemming from these instruments.