2025/08/06 by Roman Knubel, Marcel Berni, Moritz Nepomuk Kueng
Social Sciences · #European and Russian Geopolitical Military Strategies #International Relations and Foreign Policy #Post-Soviet Geopolitical Dynamics
paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/01402390.2025.2538857
This article examines various processes of military adaptation in the Russian Armed Forces from a historical perspective. Drawing comparisons with the Chechen Wars, it focuses on strategy and doctrine, organisation, equipment, training and recruitment. In Chechnya, the Russian forces were equipped for a war of attrition, but found themselves fighting a guerrilla war. In Ukraine, Russian troops were equipped for a rapid breakthrough, not for a war of attrition. In both wars the Russian Armed Forces were forced to adapt. We argue that a strategic paradigm based on mass and endurance is central to the military adaptation in Ukraine.