We realized for the first time that the Russia is waging a hybrid war against Europe — Schüssel

This was stated by former Federal Chancellor of Austria, ex-chairman of the Austrian People's Party Wolfgang Schüssel during his speech at the 29th European Forum at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna.

For the first time, we truly realized that this is not just about Ukraine. What Russia is doing is effectively a hybrid war against the West, and primarily against Europe. America may be too big and too far away, but it is Europe that is under threat. And when we defend Ukraine — morally, financially, with weapons — we are doing our duty, because our own security is at stake.

Wolfgang Schüssel

Austrian politician

The former chancellor stressed that Russia's attack on Ukraine is just part of a larger Russian strategy aimed at undermining democratic institutions in the West. He warned that Moscow is actively using cyberattacks, espionage and disinformation campaigns and influencing elections to weaken European states. However, "not everyone is really aware of what is happening."

I was a member of an important supervisory board of a large energy company for 12 years. I left two years ago, and last year our company had 40,000 cyberattacks, and hundreds of them were really very dangerous. Thousands of trolls, professional hackers from Russia and sometimes China, attacked everything: they shut down hospitals, the German Bundestag, the Austrian Foreign Ministry, agencies, government institutions, bureaus, etc. And so on and so forth.

Schüssel also drew attention to the fact that the Kremlin's disinformation campaigns are actively influencing elections and public opinion in EU countries, in particular in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Poland, and Moldova, and Europe, according to him, is still doing practically nothing to counter these threats:

And we, on the European side, are completely naive. Europe is not doing anything. We are trying to get together and meet.

The former Austrian Chancellor emphasized that Russia is trying to divide European societies by exploiting any crisis:

Whenever there are issues that can divide our societies (whether in France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Slovakia, wherever) — COVID, migration, the war in Gaza or in Ukraine, whatever — wherever that division can be used to weaken the West and our societies — the Russians are there, as are other influential actors. We must not be naive.

According to Schüssel, Europe is currently experiencing a moment of awakening, but now it is important not only to increase defense budgets, but also to change thinking.

Schüssel, who previously served on the board of directors of Russia's Lukoil and left it in early March 2024 due to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, also said that he was wrong about Putin.

Putin. I knew him, met him a few times. I had the impression that he was a fairly rational type of person. He thinks twice before acting. And then he started a war against Ukraine. It’s been four years. More than a million young Russian men have been killed or maimed. And for what? For a few square kilometers — for the country with the largest territory in the world. For a few square kilometers of land, settlements. Land that will be uninhabitable for the next 50 or 100 years. This is madness.