Angel Group's project "Hybrid Fortress" is to provide an objective and alternative view of what is happening in Bulgaria in the context of the Russian Hybrid War. The biggest problem today is the information that is provided is appearing out of touch. Analysts take an ideological stance or prefer to stay in the safe center, use clichés. After all, they deal with ideas - theory - not actually "doing". Тhe non understanding of the region plays in favour of the other party, which in various ways misleads the Western Countries about Bulgaria. The results are more than obvious. Angel Group's project is based not only on vast academic expertise, creativity, intelligence, alternative and innovative methods, but also on the extensive and genuine experience of Iliyan Kuzmanov.
In order to give the problem depth, the term "hybrid fortress" is used. A definition characterizing the ideological protection and preservation by means of various battle towers (pillars), allowing the Bulgarian communist elite (serving as a proxy for Russia), a protective shell. The main supporting terms used are Terrorism and Anti Systemic Ideology, terms disguised behind Totalitarian Religious Movements, Far Right and White Supremacy Ideology, Culture, Art and Education.
The main focus is on the countryside -the death spot. Big cities, both in Russia and Bulgaria, are showcases- an instrument of deception, but they definitely do not reflect the current society. Even more in Bulgaria, in addition to corruption there is a huge problem with manipulation of information and election results.
Bulgaria is caught in the Grey Zone of Russia's confrontation with NATO. Through unconventional methods of Hybrid Warfare, Russia is stirring up numerous micro societal conflicts while consolidating its position. Russian Hybrid Warfare has several components, subversive, economic, informational, including cultural and spiritual. Using Bulgaria as a "Spiritual Gateway", Russia spreads its subversive influence. In many cases, the cultural networks scattered outside Bulgaria are backed by economic ones that give them staying power.
For Russia Hybrid Warfare is not a temporary phenomenon but the future of warfare. The main bet they are currently making is maximum internal disintegration in the EU and NATO. It must actively counter Kremlin information and cultural campaigns and veiled networks of influence and sleeper cells that can be activated as needed. Old strategies and perceptions of Bulgaria (with huge immigrant communities in all corners of the world) must be fundamentally revised in order to adequately respond to Russia's highly flexible and multi-layered tactics. When talking about information, misleading information and sources of information should be taken first. It should be borne in mind that in Totalitarian Societies, the means of information struggle are of key importance.
The alternative method of analyzing and presenting information is part of journalist and writer Ilian Kuzmanov's vision of what is needed to counter Russian Hybrid aggression. The main reason for Russia's complete domination of the minds of the Bulgarian countryside is the lack of an adequate response, and a strategy adequate to the circumstances and threat. As the methods currently used not only have no effect whatsoever, but further contribute to the consolidation of Russian informational and ideological superiority.
The "Hybrid Fortress" project is being developed jointly with another Angel Group project- the Angel Analyst website- www.theangel.today, an information and analytical media portal drawing parallels between the liberal and the conservative, missing in Bulgaria and in the Kremlin's ideology. Specialized articles cover interdisciplinary topics: socio-anthropological, national psychological, political and economic, religious and cultural... An intelligent style typical of the writer Ilian Kuzmanov, who successfully juggles with interdisciplinary analysis. The aim of the project is to grow into a full-scale study of little considered aspects of the Hybrid War, such as Bulgaria as a Cultural Gateway for Russian Propaganda, the mimicry of the old elites and the rise of the Far Right as an instrument of terror. As a project to use various media and information platforms and tools.
