Army vehicles were so old that repair crews stood almost every 25 km.. And some officers let themselves go so much that they had to spend $ 1.5 to change the uniform for them.

Such was the Russian army more than 10 years ago when it invaded Georgia. The shortcomings, large and small, were so visible that the Kremlin announced its intention to begin a complete overhaul of the army in order to build a stronger, more flexible and more professional force..

“But now, after three months of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it has become clear that the Kremlin has never been able to build an effective military machine.. Russian forces in Ukraine have performed so poorly that they have surprised Western analysts, raising the chances that Vladimir Putin's aggression will end in failure..

By all indications, despite the capture of territories in the south and east, the Russian army suffered a big defeat in Ukraine. She was forced to abandon plans for a lightning-fast occupation of the entire country in a matter of days. Russian forces expelled from the outskirts of Kyiv. The flagship of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation, the cruiser Moskva, was destroyed. Control of the sky was never established. And according to some Western estimates, tens of thousands of Russian soldiers died.

This war exposed the fact that the military culture and demeanor of the times of the USSR are largely preserved in the Russian army.. The command structure is not flexible, corruption in the army is very common. Meanwhile, Moscow hides losses and repeats the mantra that everything is going according to plan.. The symptoms of these problems were on the surface. Just last summer, Russia held a military exercise that, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, demonstrated the ability to coordinate the actions of 200,000 soldiers from different branches of the military.. At the same time, an imitation of the fight against NATO troops was carried out.. It was the largest military exercise in Russian history. Deputy Defense Minister General Yunus-Bek Yevkunov boasted to reporters that the Russian army had shown the ability to quickly deploy joint forces. And this ability will "

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But the exercises were held according to a strictly prescribed scenario.. No one played the role of a rival. The main combat units worked out the choreography of their actions for months. And each maneuver began and stopped at a strictly appointed time.. Analysts have calculated that the actual number of troops participating in these exercises was about half what they said in Moscow..

“In fact, this is the Soviet army. The reforms have made it more effective, but they are only halfway there,” said Kamil Galeev, a Russian analyst and former fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington..

After the war against Georgia in 2008, Russia tried to reformat its armed forces. The idea was to abandon the centralized Soviet army, which was supposedly capable of mobilizing up to 4 million soldiers in a short time.. Field officers should have been given more powers. Units had to be taught to synchronize their skills. And the entire Russian arsenal was supposed to go into the computer era. Many traditionalists have resisted change, holding on to the old model of giant, concentrated power.. But other factors also contributed to the inability of the Russian army to transform. The birth rate collapsed in the 1990s, which led to a reduction in the number of men who could be called up for military service.. This, as well as very low salaries, led to the failure of the recruitment targets.. Endemic corruption ruined all efforts.

But the main problem was that the military culture of the USSR was preserved, despite the lack of men and funds to support it..

“The Soviet army was built to accumulate millions of soldiers in order to fill an extremely large number of divisions with endless supplies of equipment.. It was created for the Third World War, for the war with NATO, which never started,” said Michael Kofman, director of Russian studies at CNA..

Therefore, in fact, the momentum for change faded quickly, leaving behind a hybrid version of the army that fell short of the more flexible modern force, but was no longer the old conscription-based version.. She still relies more on artillery than infantry capable of capturing and holding territories.. The military exercises that took place in the summer according to the strictest scenario were eloquent.

“No one was tested for the ability to think directly on the battlefield,” said William Alberk, director of the arms control program at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Berlin..

Instead, officers were judged on how capable they were of following instructions accurately.. Russia wanted the world to see its army as it appeared during Victory Day parades.. That this is supposedly a well-oiled military tool, consisting of slender soldiers in beautiful uniforms, marching in unison with formidable weapons in their hands.

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“Moscow is using the Armed Forces as a propaganda machine,” said Russian Air Force Lieutenant Gleb Irisov, who resigned in 2020 after five years of service..

Russia's senior military command claims that the participation of Russian forces in military operations, especially in Syria, has provided real combat experience. But analysts question that claim.. Because in Syria, Russian troops did not confront a real rival. They carried out their operations mainly with the Air Force.. The pilots flew over their targets calmly and as much as they like.. Russia hasn't fought a major land battle since World War II.. However, the Russian authorities exaggerated their military successes.. During a meeting with representatives of the Philippine government, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu boasted that the Russian army had “liberated” 503,000 square kilometers of Syrian territory.. The problem is that the figure he named is twice the real area of \u200b\u200b\\u200b\\u200bSyria.

With 900,000 personnel, a third of which are infantrymen, the Russian Armed Forces are not as big as for an army that must protect vast territories stretching across 11 time zones.. Ten years ago, Moscow set as its goal to recruit 50,000 soldiers for contract service.. However, this goal has consistently failed.. Therefore, the country still has a mandatory conscription for all men from 18 to 27 years old.. Putin has not yet announced a mass mobilization that will oblige all adult men to go to war..

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However, if he did, it would require infrastructure for the mass training of civilians.. And there is no such infrastructure in Russia. As a result, those Russian troops that are already fighting in Ukraine are, in fact, all the ground forces of the Russian Federation..

And because of the corruption of the Russian army, there are not enough resources and weapons.. Budgets are massively plundered. And therefore, the army still cannot afford advanced weapons, such as T-14 Armata tanks and fifth-generation aircraft..

Swedish Defense Research Agency analyst Johann Norberg says the Russian army will not be able to solve every one of its problems even in 10 years. The war in Ukraine exposed the fact that the Russian army, “not only is not three meters tall, it does not even pull a meter,” said a Swedish expert.