POLITICS IN CENTRAL EUROPE 17 (2021) 1 29 Russian Infuence in the Czech Republic as a Grey Zone Case Study JOSEP BAQUÉS‑QUESADA AND GUILLEM COLOM‑PIELLA Abstract: In recent years, the concept of grey zone has been popularised to analyse the activities a State can use to infuence the decisions and to limit the strategic choices of another State below the threshold of war. This article presents a case study, aimed at verifying if the Russian activities in the Czech Republic may constitute a grey zone. The paper commences by introducing the concept of the grey zone and developing the appropriate theoretical framework to identify its main characteristics. It continues by examining the Russian infuence in the Czech Republic by using open sources, local sources and documents from the Czech intelligence services. It concludes by asserting that the analysed case meets most of the requirements to classify it as a ‘limited grey zone’. This new theoretical development may help to assess similar situations that may occur in this or other nations. Keywords: grey zone; hybrid threat; Russia; Czech Republic; political infuence; disinformation; active measures. Introduction A number of buzzwords – from the traditional ideas of ‘disinformation’ and ‘ac‑ tive measures’, the catch‑all concept of ‘hybrid threat’, the inexistent ‘Gerasimov doctrine’ or the ambiguous ‘grey zone’ – are used to defne Russia’s political warfare activities in the West. 1 Among others, those can include political in‑ 1 More specifcally, those may be tactics of the Russian approach to unconventional warfare. Dubbed by a number of experts as New Generation Warfare, it ‘…difers from Western views of hybrid warfare – a blend of conventional, irregular and cyber warfare [the current hybrid threat approach focuses on the multidimensional strategies (or traditional political warfare activities) below the threshold of war] – in Politics in Central Europe (ISSN: 1801-3422) Vol. 17, No. 1 DOI: 10.2478/pce-2021-0002