#sergey lebedev

Sergey Lebedev

For decades, Operation Desert Storm, which took place in 1991, epitomized the revolution in modern warfare. Western armies have invested heavily in keeping their personnel out of harm's way.

Putin's army, however, is the army of yesterday. And exactly this is its gruesome advantage. It can sustain losses that would be absolutely unacceptable for any Western country. But it is also technically advanced enough to counter Western military technologies.

Western science was first to "dronize" warfare, to minimize the involvement of troops on the ground and use machines for new tasks.

Putin's army, while also using real drones, “dronizes” the human beings as well. It has turned soldiers into dispensable, single-use units. »

— Exiled Russian author Sergey Lebedev. It is from a speech he gave at The Helsinki Debate on Europe in mid May and adapted as an article at Voxeurop.

Mr. Lebedev focused on Russia's occupation of Eastern Europe after World War II as its greatest crime and the war in Ukraine as a continuation of that crime. The way Russia regards its troops has made such criminality possible.

Even before Communism, Russian leaders regarded their troops as expendable. They have had little regard for the lives of their subjects for centuries. This has continued through the war in Ukraine where Russian officers order their troops to do "meat wave" suicidal attacks which seldom accomplish anything.

The culture of violence pervades Russia's military. That leads to low morale which results in counterproductive poor performance by troops. If your own officers turn their guns on you in battle, why should you bother putting in any extra effort?

Why Don’t Russian Soldiers Revolt?

Sergey Lebedev

Sergey Lebedev

Sergey Lebedev