Rusty rifles and drunk soldiers: some pathetic images of the Russian Army

@DefAviation ES 9·24·2022 · 22:13 0

It seemed difficult to give an even more pathetic image than the one offered by the Russian Army in Ukraine in recent weeks, but the Russians have succeeded.

Putin's Russian roulette: this is how his mobilization order can turn against him
Corruption in the Russian Armed Forces and its serious effects on the invasion of Ukraine

Three days ago I already pointed out here that the serious shortcomings suffered by the Russian Army were not going to be resolved with the "partial mobilization" of 300,000 reservists ordered by Vladimir Putin. I even anticipated that Russia will send to the front will be even more poorly equipped soldiers. The last few days have served to ratify this prognosis, but to extremes that I could not imagine.

This weekend images have been released of the assault rifles that Russia is giving to these newly mobilized reservists: old Kalashnikovs AKM, a weapon that entered service in the Soviet Army in 1959. Images show obvious signs of oxidation both on the rifles themselves and on the chargers. One wonders where these weapons were stored and in what conditions, such as to hand them over to the reservists.

The delivery of these weapons to men who will be sent to war is a sign of the corruption that has corroded the Russian Army for years, and also of its absolute contempt by its soldiers, a fact that was already seen during the Second World War, when Stalin sent unarmed recruits to the front line.

These days we are also seeing images that recall another well-known aspect of the Red Army in World War II: the habit of administering vodka to its soldiers before combat. Whether it was to combat the cold in winter or because They did not trust their men being sober, the Soviet commanders created a bad reputation for their own troops. This time there was no waiting for the fight. Some reservists have already gone to their recruiting centers drunk:

Driven by drunkenness, some Russian soldiers have left ridiculous images, like this one dedicated to headbutting a car:

The state of drunkenness of some reservists has reached the boarding points where the buses were waiting to take them to the barracks:

In some cases, drunkenness has led to fights between recruits:

And more fights...

Due to the excess of alcohol, some of the reservists can barely stand:

In June we already addressed here the problems of alcoholism and drug addiction that exist in the Russian Armed Forces, because due to the serious corruption they suffer, the men with more resources buy their way out, leaving the poorest and least healthy among the troops, which includes soldiers with alcohol and drug problems, but also mentally unstable or malnourished. Added to this is the problem that the Russian Army focuses a large part of its recruitment campaigns on the poorest regions of the Russian Federation, since in the more affluent they are more reluctant to enlist, due to the poor service conditions.

Who was it that convinced Putin that a war can be won with an army in these conditions? If he has already been unable to achieve his goals in Ukraine with professional soldiers, what will be the result by sending reservists with drinking problems and rusty weapons to Ukraine? It is complete nonsense.