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No, he’s just a typical Russian ruler. Russian history since time began has only ruler who actually seemed to care about the people’s well-being …
A somewhat dated but still pertinent article about the quality and treatment of the drafted Russian soldier. Officers stole their pay, wealthy parents paid bribes to keep their sons out, brutal NCOs treated the newbies as punching bags, and some literally starved to death because the money meant to feed them was stolen by their officers.
Of interest to me, while the army drafts for 2 years the Russian navy requires 3 years service due to longer training time requirements. You are required to train your replacement before you can leave … which leads to “training to the test”. Russian submarine crews have are far larger officer to enlisted ratio than there NATO opponents as it was needed to keep up the experience level. Aircraft maintenance also suffered from high turnover rates and you might end up with a Lt Col fixing your airplane where a corporal in NATO would be doing it.
Fast forward from the early days after the fall of the wall and the oligarchs stole the money intended for modern equipment. The new T-14 Armata tank was funded for 2400 units but the money ran out after the first 100 were built. The company that produces them has gone to selling them at international arms venues to keep the plant open. Meanwhile the Russian tank corp are still using cold war T-72s.
https://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/russia/russia1102-01.htm#:~….
BACKGROUND ON CONSCRIPTION IN RUSSIA