An Evaluation of the Russian Military Reforms III

Operational Lessons Learnt

Abstract

As a result of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the former Cold War superpower, Russia, significantly weakened in the 1990s, hit by a series of economic, political and societal crises. Such crisis phenomena also affected the Russian military: its capabilities were weakened by the aging of most military assets, the demoralization of the personnel and widespread corruption. These problems could only be countered after the turn of the millennium due to the improving economic background and the consolidating political power, thus triggering the comprehensive reform and modernization of the military. Throughout a series of four studies the author offers an overview and assessment of those processes that enabled Russia to rearticulate its great power ambitions, underpinned by more modern and combat-ready conventional armed forces to be developed until the end of the current decade. The current third study of the series summarizes and analyses operational lessons learnt from the military operations the Russian armed forces have carried out since the 1990s and thus have formulated several practical aspects of military reforms. These include the restructuring of the armed forces, developing operational doctrines, altering training and exercise scenarios, as well as technological equipment modernization.