Russia has taken to chemically lowering its soldiers’ inhibitions to guarantee these ill-trained civilians and convicts continue to fight no matter the odds in the ongoing war in Ukraine, according to a UK defense think tank.
Russia has taken to chemically lowering its soldiers’ inhibitions to guarantee these ill-trained civilians and convicts continue to fight no matter the odds in the ongoing war in Ukraine, according to a UK defense think tank.
Here’s the actual report.
“The foremost weakness across Russian infantry units is low morale, which leads to poor unit cohesion and inter-unit cooperation.”
This is a common thing in conscription armies. Worse in Russia because they don’t have supplies.
Though not all conscripted armies. The Finnish army, which has been doing conscription forever, has excellent esprit de corps.
My guess is that it comes down to how you treat the conscripts. I’ll admit that I don’t know much about the Finnish army, but I’d wager that conscripts are treated decently, are supplied with everything they need, and get clear instructions from their superiors. Contrast this with Russian conscripts where they’re given no supplies, get conflicting orders, and are treated like garbage.
I have a friend I studied with who is Finnish and what I heard from him of his time serving the level of training, supply and esprit de corps was very high. A world away from the russian conscript experence.
It appears that Finland is one of those small countries that has compulsory military service for all adult males. I feel like that’s a different situation because it’s just a routine part of being a citizen and you grow up knowing it’s going to happen. In contrast, Russia’s conscription was sprung on the populace in actual wartime (with the war going badly, no less), so it’s easy to see how the conscripts would be a lot more upset about it.
No, Russia has conscription to this day, and had it since it came out of the USSR. They just don’t conscript everyone.