By triggering, on 24 February, a “special military operation” against Ukraine, according to the expression imposed by the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin has engaged the Russian army in the fourth war since he came to power – not to mention the deployment of forces in other external fields.
The fields of operations and the adversaries differ, but the situations also have similarities.
By the imperatives invoked to justify the military intervention, first. The fight against terrorism for Chechnya, in 1999, but also in Syria in 2015. Support for pro-Russian minorities oppressed by Georgia in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, in 2008, as well as in Ukraine in 2014 and 2022. In Libya ( 2016) and in Nagorno-Karabakh (2020), Russia has joined external conflicts to consolidate its influence.
Then, by the strategy put in place, combining massive aerial bombardments, ground deployments and destabilization operations.
In addition to the interventions officially carried out by the regular army, there are also those operated by mercenaries from the Wagner group, a shadow army which reportedly depends on the oligarch Yevgueni Prigojine, close to the Kremlin, and officially encouraged by the authorities.
Netherlands
Azerbaijan
Germany
Ireland
France
Denmark
Spain
Slovakia
Italy
Mac. from N.
Belgium
Sweden
Armenia
Ukraine
Russia
Bulgaria
Romania
Finland
Cyprus
Syria
Lux.
Libya
Belarus
Slovenia
Hungary
Georgia
Portugal
Czech Republic
Malta
Moldova
UK
Latvia
Lithuania
Montenegro
Greece
Albania
Norway
Croatia
Poland
Estonia
Turkey
Kazakhstan
Member State of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
Partner state wishing to join NATO
Russian enclave (separatist territory or territory annexed by Moscow)
Soviet Union boundary until 1991
Member State of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)
Chechnya | 1999-2009
In September, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin launched a “counter-terrorism operation” in Chechnya, whose separatists are accused of having committed attacks in Russia. Grozny, already devastated by the war from 1994 to 1996, was pounded by the air force. Control of the region is locked by the installation in power of Akhmad Kadyrov. Russia’s new strongman won the 2000 presidential election in the first round.
Georgia | 2008
After clashes between South Ossetian separatists and the Georgian army, the latter intervened militarily. The conflict extends to Abkhazia. Russia is deploying 40,000 troops in support of the separatists. Three months earlier, NATO had welcomed the “Euroatlantic aspirations of Ukraine and Georgia”. In five days, the troops of Tbilisi are crushed. The independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia is recognized by Moscow, which retains control of 20% of Georgian territory.
Ukraine| 2014
While Moscow annexed Crimea by referendum in March, the separatists of Donbass proclaimed their independence in April, triggering war in this region of eastern Ukraine, with Russian military support.
Syria | 2015
On September 30, Vladimir Putin launches a vast military intervention to rescue the regime in Damascus, which now controls only a few portions of territory. The massive aerial bombardments reverse the balance of power. Bashar Al-Assad is kept in power. The Russian army maintains strategic military positions east of the Mediterranean.
Libya | 2016
The fall and death of Gaddafi in 2011, thanks to NATO’s support for the Libyan rebellion, are experienced as a humiliation by Moscow, which sees its influence diminishing in a region that has long gravitated towards the Soviet orbit. . From 2016, during the second Libyan civil war, Russia sends arms and mercenaries in support of Marshal Khalifa Haftar, against the government of Tripoli.
Nagorno-Karabakh | 2020
At the end of September, Azerbaijan launched a victorious offensive and took over the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, supported by Armenia. Moscow, linked to Yerevan by a military alliance, does not intervene in the conflict, but imposes itself as a mediator. According to the November 9 peace agreement, Russia is deploying an interposition force of 2,000 men for five years, strengthening its military presence in the South Caucasus.
Ukraine| 2022
Under the pretext of protecting ethnic Russians and Russian speakers from a “Nazi” state “without legal existence”, Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine on February 24, using in particular his troops based in Belarus and his allies from the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. This “special military operation” should serve to reaffirm its power in the face of a NATO presence, denounced as aggressive.
Sources: SIPRI; Airwars.org; Liveuamap; Institute Study of War; The world
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