the obstacle course of Russian conscripts and their families to find military equipment

“It was the visit of the Potemkin village”, smiles the Russian jurist Nadezhda Kutepova, exiled in France. In the past, this expression made fun of the Tsar’s trips to villages in their Sunday best, carefully prepared for the occasion. Vladimir Putin brought it up to date in the Ryazan region on Thursday 20 October. During his peregrination in a training camp for mobilized citizens, the Russian president was able to observe the quality of the troops, the robustness of the equipment and the adequacy of the means. Trainees shoot “at least 600 live cartridges and five grenades” at each of their training sessions, added in front of the cameras Sergueï Choïgou, Minister of Defense.

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“As a joke, I asked my friend who was mobilized if he too was expecting a visit from Vladimir Putin.tells Oleksandra* to franceinfo. He replied that it was not likely to happen, since their camp was in ruins. In fact, the army is unable to provide several basic materials to its conscripts, and the young woman had to sacrifice part of her savings. “We opened a kitty to help him, because the list of equipment to buy is wide. We are seven in total, and we participate according to our income.

“Most of them have gone through compulsory military service. And they know very well that it is useless to expect certain things from the army.continues the young woman. The boots that are provided, for example, are of poor quality.” The items of expenditure are innumerable, and the money collected will be used in particular to acquire warm clothes and underwear, a balaclava, soles, jackets, tactical belts and gloves, knee pads and elbow pads… You have to do quickly, because his friend can be sent to Ukraine at any time.

“At the military registration office, the mobilized are simply told to take warm clothes, a sleeping bag and a first aid kit”, explains to franceinfo Natalya *, another close to mobilized, in Siberia this time. But she sends us another list, informal, about thirty articles long. Various inventories circulate widely in Russia, thanks to feedback from the military. It is still necessary to have the means to compensate for the absences of the army. “My friends have managed to cover the costs. But I have friends in remote villages, who contribute with the whole family.”

This question of equipment has been stirring part of the opinion since the end of September, with in particular the broadcast of a video on the Telegram channel Sirena **, shot in Altai, a mountain range in southern Siberia. A military official asked those mobilized to support themselves, explaining in particular that there were not enough tourniquets for everyone. She also advised them to line the soles of their shoes with sanitary napkins and to buy tampons, to stop bleeding in case of gunshot wounds.

These images had been freshly received by the most zealous patriotic bloggers. “The ultranationalist Igor Girkin, [commandant des troupes de Donetsk en 2014]had in particular condemned their dissemination, saying that it was not necessary to demoralize the soldiers and give a bad image of the army”, explains Anne Le Huérou, specialist in Russian society, to franceinfo. The Ministry of Defense had remained silent.

“Today there is complete denial from the Russian military about non-equipment.”

Anne Le Huérou, sociologist and specialist in Russian society

at franceinfo

Since then, a Russian soldier complained (in English) to have received a vest used for the practice of airsoft: “It’s for airguns, and they’re going to send us to Ukraine with this shitty thing.” On another document, Ukrainians have fun folding in half (in English) a bulletproof plate, abandoned by the enemy. More recently, photographs of bullet-proof vests with holes, repaired with adhesive tape, have also been posted** by relatives of those mobilized in Crimea, who are now demanding accountability from the local authorities.

These criticisms are no longer confined to social networks, and even Russian agencies, usually docile with power, relay the concerns of the mobilized and their families. “The soles of his winter boots came off on the second daydenounced the companion of a reservist interviewed by RIA Novosti**. This situation is not isolated. Complaints come from almost all regions of Russia.”

With the mobilization decreed at the end of September, hundreds of thousands of families are now concerned. As a result, Russians rushed to specialty shops to buy the necessities. Natalya estimates that it costs about 60,000 rubles (986 euros) to collect the equipment recommended by the military offices. “We have already spent the equivalent of 1,500 dollars (1,521 euros) on equipment”, testifies for his part Oleksandra, three times the average salary in Russia. But all his purchases are not finished yet, due to the “out of stock in large Moscow military stores.”

This situation of shortage leads to generalized inflation: the Federal Anti-monopoly Service has itself noted the explosion in the price of materials, according to a report quoted by RBK**. “If families must now apply for loans from banks, and count on compensation from the State in the event of death or injury, this is still a certain cynicism”, observes Nadezhda Kutepova. Prime Minister Mikhail Michoustine asked companies to rapidly increase production in order to meet the needs of mobilized citizens.

A couple interviewed by RIA Novosti also claim that the military registration and enlistment office directly recommended that they purchase a bulletproof vest. A completely illegal request, specifies the government platform** dedicated to mobilization.

“If you are forced to buy a uniform or equipment, you can file a complaint with a military commissioner.”

Russian government platform

“A friend who was in the fighting received a bulletproof vest as well as armamentsshade Natalya. And not all the military are on the front lines, so not everyone needs them.” This does not prevent the Russian media from declining complete files ** to advise families in the choice of ballistic protection, preferably in the fifth or sixth categories of protection, the highest. This equipment has been snapped up for weeks.

According to Senator Lyoudmila Naroussova, the price of fifth-category bullet-proof vests has increased twenty-fold since the beginning of the year, rising from 7,000 to 135,000 rubles (2,220 euros). The elected official, moreover, judged “unnatural” that the suppliers put these protections on sale, instead of transferring them to the army. In 2020, however, the army claimed to have received 300,000 kits of new generation bulletproof vests.

The logistical failures are also reviving debates on corruption within the Russian forces: a former officer was sentenced last year to six years in prison for having stolen 56 of these models. In total, over the past eight years, military courts have handed down 558 convictions for thefts from military clothing stores, according to calculations by the BBC Russian Service**. This question will be more and more delicate to manage for the Kremlin, as the bodies of mobilized will be repatriated in their families.

The death of Timur Izmailov, an employee in a bank, has already caused a stir in the country, because this profession is normally excluded from mobilization. His parents had spent 150,000 rubles (2,467 euros) to provide him with equipment, his lawyer said on Friday on the Dojd** channel. “There have been great talks in Russia about mobilizingsummarizes Anne Le Huérou, but the army today suffers from corruption, a lack of logistical planning and a lack of internal organization.” The mobilized and their families are paying the price today.

*Names have been changed.

** All these links lead to content in Russian.