Law, Hybrid Threats and Counter-Terrorism

The article analyzes the concept of hybrid threats formed in recent decades. It shows that in many well-known documents there is a direct connection between hybrid threats and the concept of a hybrid war, which includes various asymmetric actions that are multifaceted, not crossing the certain threshold permitting to characterize them as a classic armed conflict. These may include fueling tension hot points; economic and information pressure; threat by force; increasing of intolerance and xenophobia; cyberattacks and cyber threats; formation of military infrastructure in the border zone; the use of transnational organized crime in all its manifestations; spread of extremist and terrorist ideology. The hybrid threat is also considered in the context of causing indirect damage to basic values (for example, the fight against it may in itself lead to the rejection of democratic values in the country). It is highlighted that terrorism is also being studied as a hybrid threat. It's due to the fact that the growth of terrorist influence and the use of network technologies by criminal organizations makes it possible to conduct a diverse offensive against basic democratic values. The globalization of terrorism leads to the fact that each state feels its influence, builds an appropriate legal policy based on the strengthening of the powers of law enforcement agencies and the introduction of additional restrictions on human rights. It is shown that for a long time in a number of European countries terrorism was not considered as an affirmative criminal offence (criminal liability came depending on the act committed, often without indicating terrorist goals). A significant step was the adoption of the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism (CETS No. 196, Warsaw, May 16, 2005), which clearly refers to the notion of a terrorist crime.