Russia has been loading up its front lines with troops from the poorest and most remote regions of Russia. The Tuvans in the image above are equipped with cheap rubber boots to face winter conditions in Ukraine. Ethnic minorities like the Tuvans and the Buryats are more expendable to Putin than ethnic Russians from places like Moscow and St Petersburg.
Buryatia ranks second among Russian regions in terms of the number of those killed in the war in Ukraine. More - only in Dagestan.
Ukrainian intelligence reports that Russian troops from Buryatia deployed near Kherson, had been becoming increasingly resentful of the Kadyrite Chechens.
One of the reasons for this ethnic conflict is the reluctance of the Buryat soldiers to conduct offensive operations and their perception of the "inequality" of their circumstances compared to those of the Chechen soldiers. The latter are never on the frontline – they always remain in the rear as "barricading detachments." Their task is to ensure the units of [Russian] occupying forces maintain active military action. That is, to open fire on those [Russian troops] who are trying to retreat.
Things came to a head when the Chechens decided to keep all the loot to themselves. The Buryats decided to do a forcible redistribution and a 50 a side firefight ensued. No news on casualties yet. An army that leaves behind its wounded but never leaves behind it’s loot is not a unified fighting force.
In addition to cannon fodder from remote corners of Russia, The Russian military is rounding up and forcibly conscripting males from the separatist regions of Ukraine to toss into the meat grinder. These troops are under-trained, under-equipped and are terrified and the opposite of motivated to fight.
Reports of mutinies are multiplying. Russian Colonel Yuri Medvedev was run over by a tank and killed at the hands of his own brigade. 60 Russian paratroopers sent to Belarus to deploy to Ukraine staged a mutiny and refused to be deployed.
Intercepted phone calls of Russian soldiers paint a picture of troops that hate their officers and are despondent and hopeless about their future.
And if you thought it couldn’t get any worse for the Russian army…
'Putin has now taken day-to day-control of the conflict and delegated the running of Russia to the Prime Minister'.
Putin’s delusional mindset and his desperation to prevent his own downfall by achieving a quick victory will likely break his army. Kos and Mark Summer have done an excellent job of detailing the disastrous logistical, tactical, and strategic deficiencies of the Russian military. But its rotten and depraved internal culture may consume it before its incompetent leadership or the Ukrainians destroy it.