Could Russian ‘hybrid warfare’ trigger NATO retaliation?

German intelligence chief says Russia’s hybrid war could prompt NATO allies to invoke the mutual defence Article 5.

German intelligence chief Bruno Kahl said this week that Russia’s extensive use of “hybrid” warfare measures “increases the risk that NATO will eventually consider invoking its Article 5 mutual defence clause”, under which an attack against one NATO member is considered an attack against them all.

Hybrid warfare is the use of both conventional and unconventional means to create instability in countries without making it seem like an all-out war.

These kinds of tactics can include election interference, assassination plots and attacks on critical infrastructure, such as undersea cables, but they can be extremely difficult to prove.

So could these sorts of incidents really trigger retaliation against Russia by NATO countries?

Kahl’s comments on Wednesday came just days after two cables in the Baltic Sea were cut on November 17 and 18.