Moscow’s massive military deployment along
its border with Ukraine has sparked debate over what exactly the Russian army’s
capabilities are.
Since the 19th century, Moscow has been a
great power, even rising to the status of super power during the Cold War. With
the collapse of the Soviet Union the new Russian Federation largely retreated
from the international arena riddled with severe economic problems.
Since the collapse of the USSR, the Russian
economy has only improved to an extent, but under Vladimir Putin, Moscow has
managed to develop a new military programme supported by a large budget. The
program has upgraded the country’s military forces from its air force to the
navy, developing supersonic cruise missiles and other weaponry.
While the Western alliance continues to
question Russian military capabilities, Moscow’s recent deployment across the
Ukrainian border areas from Belarus to Eastern Ukraine in a considerably short
time likely rang alarm bells across Western capitals, primarily Washington.
Russian intervention in the Syrian conflict -
on the invitation of the Assad regime - provided Moscow the opportunity to
show off its new hypersonic weapons inventory to the global audience, with
devastating consequences.
“I’m embarrassed to admit, I was surprised a
few years ago when [Russia’s] Kalibr missiles came flying out of the Caspian
Sea, hitting targets in Syria,” said Lt.
Gen. Ben Hodges, the former commander of the US Army in Europe.
“That was a surprise to me, not only the capability, but I didn’t even know
they were there,” the American general added.
Despite its economic problems and Western
pressure, Putin’s Russia has succeeded in modernising its military, imparting
confidence in the Kremlin’s leadership to flex its muscle globally from the
Syrian conflict to Venezuela and Afghanistan.
Most recently, Russia has clearly shown that
it will now allow NATO’s expansion across its Western borders, particularly, in
a country like Ukraine, which has a large Russian-speaking population
with strong
historical and cultural ties with Moscow.
What are Russia’s capabilities?
Even in its worst years after the fall of the
Soviets in the early 1990s, Moscow continued to possess a large nuclear
military arsenal, keeping its capacity for deterrence largely intact. Right
now, the country has the
largest stockpile of nuclear weapons compared to any other
global power.
The Russian Air Force is often referred to
as the second most
powerful in the world after the US. In the last ten years,
Russia was able to add more than 1,000 aircraft including its SU-35s to its air
force, according to the
Russian defence ministry.
SU-35s, the country’s most technologically
advanced warplanes, are now deployed to Belarus, a Russian ally, which
neighbours Ukraine. The country’s air force also possesses strategic bombers
alongside only two other powers, the US and China.
Like its air force, the Russian Navy is
also one of the most
powerful sea forces after the US. Moscow is able to operate the
world’s second largest fleet of submarines deployed with ballistic
missiles.
The country’s land force is also formidable
with more than three million
personnel, including reservists, making it one of the largest forces
across the world.
Russia has arguably the world’s largest tank
repertoire, but its T-72B3 tanks are also strengthened by a new thermal optics
technology for fighting in the dark, having guided missiles, with a longer
range than any other tanks, according to
American military experts.
The country’s Iskander-M rockets, whose
production was completed under Putin’s watch, are the country’s new generation
ballistic missiles. They were recently deployed by Moscow along the
Russian-Ukrainian border, showing capability of hitting any targets in
Ukraine.
Beyond the huge size of the Russian armed
forces, Moscow has also managed to cultivate a disciplined force. While Russia
is still largely dependent on conscripts, which covers about 30 percent
of its total force, its main force is now well-paid and well-trained
soldiers, which number around 400,000.
Russian leadership allows lower-level
officers to operate with significant
autonomy, something seldom seen in its civilian leadership. It has
also increased morale and mobility across military ranks.
Using Syria's bloody conflict to train its
military forces and test new weapons, 92 percent of Russian air force personnel
and 62 percent of its Navy personnel received combat experience, according to the country’s Defence
Minister Sergei K. Shoigu.
“Every weapons system that can fly, they
tried in Syria,” said Fred Kagan, director
of the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute.
In Russia, military service is still
mandatory for all male citizens aged between 18 and 27.
Despite Putin’s best efforts, Russian
military expenditure lags behind the US, China and India, coming fourth globally.
Russian hybrid warfare
Beside hard-power instruments, Russia seems
to be developing sophisticated hybrid warfare against its enemies using
diplomacy, cyber attacks, social media and other means alongside military power.
That capability, which is more difficult than
producing weapons, is a clear sign of Russia’s adaptation to modern
warfare.
“Russia is essentially in a constant state of
a hybrid warfare against NATO, which means employing not just kinetic military
force but psychological, multimedia, social media, economic and all sorts of
operations, trying to weaken its enemies,” said Matthew Bryza, a former US
diplomat to Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic, in a previous interview
with TRT World.
Comments
Post a Comment