1/ The report highlighted below by @shashj is well worth reading (link at the bottom of this thread). But I just wanted to pick up on a point it makes about systemic lying in the Russian armed forces βΒ an issue I've also tackled.
2/ The authors (who include @Jack_Watling) write:
"A further fratricidal issue is the culture of reporting within the Russian military. Those who fail are usually replaced or threatened with punishment.
"A further fratricidal issue is the culture of reporting within the Russian military. Those who fail are usually replaced or threatened with punishment.
3/ Alternatively, for senior officers, failure can lead to a different organisation being given leadership for a specified task. Far from incentivising success, this often leads to dishonest reporting in which the blame for failure is transferred onto others.
4/ This scapegoating of colleagues β endemic in the Russian special services but also in the military β obscures the actual operational problems that must be solved.
5/ These only become apparent when they can no longer be concealed, slowing the learning of lessons, but also leading to predictable and predicted vulnerabilities not being addressed."
6/ The same issue is clearly visible in the account of Colonel Vadim Boyko's suicide over mobilisation failures, published by his wife. She writes that his superior transferred blame for systemic failures to Boyko and took sick leave to avoid being interviewed by investigators.
7/ "He increasingly noticed that he could not find support among the leadership... The leaders preferred to distance themselves from all problems. He realised that no one wanted the truth, no one wanted to correct the mistakes, everyone just wants to sit on the seat of power."
7/ See my thread on Boyko here:
8/ And also check out my earlier thread from published Russian accounts on institutionalised lying in the Russian armed forces:
9/ The new RUSI report is here: static.rusi.org
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