From 5–7 August 2025, the Partnership for Peace Consortium (PfP-C) Irregular Warfare and Hybrid Threats Working Group convened at the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (Hybrid CoE) in Helsinki to examine the growing phenomenon of proxies in hybrid warfare. The resulting article, authored by experts in the field, offers a comprehensive look at how states deploy non-state actors — from militias and hacktivists to religious institutions, criminal networks, and corporate or cyber-linked entities — as tools of influence across political, informational, cyber, economic, religious, and kinetic domains.

Building on historical precedents, the article traces how proxy use has evolved (e.g., from colonial-era auxiliaries and mercenaries, through Cold War ideological movements, to modern hybrid campaigns), and highlights how such strategies offer states plausible deniability, lower cost, and high adaptability. 

A major portion of the analysis is devoted to the modern proxy strategies of Russia — showing how its toolkit now blends traditional methods with innovations such as cyber-actors, disinformation networks, religious or cultural institutions, and covert media or criminal proxies. National experts from across Europe and beyond provided case studies from countries directly affected by these dynamics. 

Finally, the article proposes a response framework rooted in four interlinked pillars:

1. Mapping and analyzing existing and emerging proxy networks (by region, function, actor type).
2. Informing public debate and policymaking through accessible, transparent research and analysis.
3. Strengthening societal, institutional, and infrastructural resilience to hybrid threats (e.g. through audits, simulations, civil-military cooperation).
4. Exploring ethical and legal models for democracies to engage non-state actors defensively (e.g. via public-private partnerships, civilian NGOs, cultural or community organizations). 

This article thus reflects the core mission of the PfPC’s Working Group — bridging scholarship and practice to help policymakers, analysts and practitioners better understand and counter the complex realities of irregular warfare today.

Read the full article here:
https://irregularwarfare.org/uncategorized/proxies-in-hybrid-operations-insights-from-the-partnership-for-peace-consortium-workshop-helsinki-finland-august-2025/