Aggressors may covertly initiate and wage combat operations on the territory of the target region through the hands of puppet armed formations, radical groups, or mercenaries. This technique is used for the forcible seizure of governance without a formal declaration of war. Sponsoring, arming, and coordinating illegal detachments allows the colonizer to artificially create the illusion of an internal civil conflict, destroy the state institutions of the local population, and establish military control over the territory while formally denying its direct involvement.
| ID | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| C0101 | Continuation of the Russo-Ukrainian War: Armed Aggression in the Donbas (2014–2015) |
Seizure of Sloviansk by the armed group of I. Strelkov and the formation of the separatist DPR/LPR under the supervision of Russian political technologists (A. Borodai) to destabilize the region from within[1]. |
| C0101 | Continuation of the Russo-Ukrainian War: Armed Aggression in the Donbas (2014–2015) |
Use of armed gangs to seize Mariupol in the spring of 2014. The attempt to establish control over the city failed: on June 13 it was retaken and fully liberated by Ukrainian troops[2]. |
| C0072 | Creation of a Puppet Government and Disguising the Intervention (December 1917 – Early 1918) |
Using the Kharkiv government as a formal cover for external aggression, in order to present the military invasion as a civil war within Ukraine[3]. |
| C0003 | Muscovite–Ukrainian War (1658–1659) |
Seeking to weaken the Hetmanate from within and prevent it from breaking its vassalage, Moscow began artificially fomenting civil war. The Tsardom generously sponsored and armed the internal opposition against the lawful government, provoking the period of the bloody Ruin: "The uprising of Pushkar and Barabash"[4]. |
| S0012 | Occupation and Controlled Administrations |
Using the Kharkiv government as a formal cover for external aggression, in order to present the military invasion as a civil war within Ukraine[3]. |
| S0012 | Occupation and Controlled Administrations |
Use of armed gangs to seize Mariupol in the spring of 2014. The attempt to establish control over the city failed: on June 13 it was retaken and fully liberated by Ukrainian troops[2]. |
| G0011 | Russian Federation |
Seizure of Sloviansk by the armed group of I. Strelkov and the formation of the separatist DPR/LPR under the supervision of Russian political technologists (A. Borodai) to destabilize the region from within[1]. |
| G0011 | Russian Federation |
Use of armed gangs to seize Mariupol in the spring of 2014. The attempt to establish control over the city failed: on June 13 it was retaken and fully liberated by Ukrainian troops[2]. |
| S0017 | Secret Police and Security Services |
Seeking to weaken the Hetmanate from within and prevent it from breaking its vassalage, Moscow began artificially fomenting civil war. The Tsardom generously sponsored and armed the internal opposition against the lawful government, provoking the period of the bloody Ruin: "The uprising of Pushkar and Barabash"[4]. |
| S0017 | Secret Police and Security Services |
Seizure of Sloviansk by the armed group of I. Strelkov and the formation of the separatist DPR/LPR under the supervision of Russian political technologists (A. Borodai) to destabilize the region from within[1]. |
| G0013 | Soviet Russia (RSFSR) |
Using the Kharkiv government as a formal cover for external aggression, in order to present the military invasion as a civil war within Ukraine[3]. |
| G0008 | Tsardom of Muscovy |
Seeking to weaken the Hetmanate from within and prevent it from breaking its vassalage, Moscow began artificially fomenting civil war. The Tsardom generously sponsored and armed the internal opposition against the lawful government, provoking the period of the bloody Ruin: "The uprising of Pushkar and Barabash"[4]. |