The New York Times these days features a hell of an article entitled “Putin’s War” on the roots of the Russian crisis in Ukraine.
A long-term investigation based on the analysis of numerous documents and conversations, some from more or less embarrassing leaks, as well as interviews with several protagonists, the article is an in-depth analysis of what drove Vladimir Putin to war. . And how it suddenly became an absolute slump.
The dramatic massacre of the Russian 155th Marine Infantry Brigade, which we spoke about a few weeks ago, the lack of modern equipment, lack of training, the complete unpreparedness of what was considered the second most effective in the world are described on the menu .
Often speak through direct witnesses to whom the hierarchy never stopped lying about what they would live for, about the fact that they must fight – until the first shells began to shred the bodies of their comrades.
There is the body of this 54-year-old soldier, Ruslan, whose body was found by Ukrainian forces. In particular, the man was carrying documents from Wikipedia that were supposed to give him some hints on how to use his sniper rifle: This is how the training of a cannon turned into flesh can be summarized by its hierarchy.
The New York Times also explains that it was able to get its hands on one of the maps used by Russian troops to try to navigate enemy territory: a far cry from the modern digital tools that provided to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, these were drawn in the 1960s during the Soviet era and were utterly useless.
The Court of Disasters
Among the points of interest in this lengthy and fascinating article, cleverly crafted, is the actual story of a man, Sergei Khrabrykh, who was hired by a Russian Defense Ministry subordinate to cover up widespread corruption within the system.
His task: In a month and with a budget of $1.2 million, prepare for the visit of high-ranking officials to the prestigious Kantemirovskaya division by turning his run-down training camp into a kind of “Potemkin” village.
So he had to cover up how the funds that the Kremlin had happily spent years modernizing its army had been sucked up into endless chains of dishonest hands. The famous officials therefore walked amidst false immaculate walls that led them only to the least undignified corners of the base – however, they were forbidden to go to the toilets which had not been repaired. .
Among the other key bits of information revealed by the lengthy New York Times article, the manner in which a Russian tank — voluntarily — fired on friendly troops is evidence of deadly discord within Kremlin forces.
Or that pivotal moment when the United States officially tried to stop Ukraine from conducting an operation against General Valery Gerasimov, the Russian side’s chief of operations, who was visiting the front lines for fear that the conflict would erupt directly between Washington and Moscow .
The article also goes into detail about the roots of evil, an isolated, ill-informed Vladimir Putin who was convinced he could take Ukraine in just a few days, surrounded by courtiers just trying to confirm his impressions.
“They read his mind and serve him what he wants to hear,” explains an anonymous official, who likens the phenomenon to a social network algorithm that ends up showing you only what you want to see.
Finally, The New York Times describes how Vladimir Putin, who was preparing the invasion in the utmost secrecy, captured some of his relatives, the country’s major oligarchs, by having them appear next to him on state television at the start of the war.
The idea was to get each of these “tycoons” wet and dirty, whether they wanted to or not: if some of them would not have been asked anyway, all were sanctioned by the West, and they had no choice but to follow their master on the road to disaster.