Russia has sought to use many of the processes, traditions and norms of the current international system as part of its hybrid warfare arsenal, not only in the pursuit of its national interests but to undermine that global order. An example of this is Moscow’s efforts to exploit the international legal regime through what has become known as lawfare. This is defined as “the strategy of using – or misusing – law as a substitute for traditional military means to achieve an operational objective.” One way Russia conducts lawfare is by weaponizing the International Criminal Police Organization, popularly known as Interpol. Russia has been a particularly egregious exploiter of Interpol’s Red Notice system, which are international alerts notifying law enforcement authorities in the member countries that those of another country are seeking the arrest of a specific person, to attack its critics and political enemies abroad. I have written more about the misuse of Interpol by Russia here.
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