From Prague to Kyiv: Understanding Russia’s Invasion Playbook and Why We Missed It
Year: 2026

This article analyses the evolution of Russia’s intervention strategies through key operations from Czechoslovakia (1968) to Ukraine (2022). It reveals a repeated operational framework that has become doctrinal, despite its absence in Russian military exercises, field manuals and theoretical literature. This pattern has remained largely unrecognised in Western analyses, at times even leading to misinterpretations of Russian actions as irrational. The findings suggest that the ‘unorthodox’ invasi