Magazine - Washington Briefing

Russia’s Potemkin army

By Jamie McIntyre

Published March 4, 2022 4:00am ET

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Russia’s Potemkin army — A Nigerien soldier provides rear security for his squad while they performed a dismounted patrol during Exercise Flintlock 2017 in Diffa, Niger, March 11, 2017. Flintlock exercises strengthen security institutions, promote multilateral sharing of information, and develop interoperability among partner nations in the Trans-Sahara. | U.S. Army photo by Spc. Zayid Ballesteros

It turns out the Russian military is not 10 feet tall after all.

The jury may be out on whether Russian President Vladimir Putin can achieve his revanchist goals in Ukraine by brutally shelling civilians into submission. Still, the verdict is in on his vaunted military, which has been unmasked as a Potemkin force — unprepared, poorly equipped, badly led, and woefully inept in waging conventional modern warfare.

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Tag:

military theory NATO Pentagon Russia Russia-Ukraine War Ukraine Vladimir Putin Volodymyr Zelensky