HISTORICAL ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF THE “TERRORIST WAR”: “SCORCHED EARTH”, ENERGY TERROR AND CRIMINAL RECRUITS (MODERN TIMES – THE 21st CENTURY)

Ruslan  HULA; Iryna  PEREDERII

doi:10.24919/2519-058X.38.354882

Authors

Ruslan HULA PhD hab. (History), Full Professor, Professor of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Ivan Kozhedub Kharkiv National Air Force University, Ukraine https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8177-1565
Iryna PEREDERII PhD hab. (History), Full Professor, Head of the Department of Ukrainian Studies, Culture and Documentation, National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”, Ukraine https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7473-5868

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24919/2519-058X.38.354882

Abstract

Abstract. The article focuses on the analysis of the essence and key components of the Russian Federation's “terrorist war” concept based on the analysis of historical military conflicts and their transformation in modern wars. The purpose of the study is to elucidate the nature and structure of terrorist war, in particular terror aimed at the destruction of critical infrastructure, as well as the use of criminal environment in combat operations. Historical parallels between past and modern wars, armed conflicts have been drawn. The methodological basis of the study is the principles of objectivity, historicism, systematicity, verification, value orientation and scientificity; problem-search, problem thematic and chronological methods have been applied. The scientific novelty consists in the fact that for the first time in the Ukrainian historiography, an attempt has been made to analyze the approbation of the Russian concept components of “terrorist war”, formed by the military leadership of the Russian Federation as a secondary tracing of foreign military theories and practices, with a demonstration of its implementation in the context of world military history. The conclusions emphasize that terrorist warfare is a form of warfare involving irregular formations, which mostly include asocial marginality. Its goal is to maintain a permanent state of war, destabilize, destroy and paralyze the political, social and economic institutions of the state and society against which it is waged.

Key words: terrorist war, “scorched earth tactics”, energy terror, criminality, private military companies, Russo-Ukrainian war, international humanitarian law.

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