The ministry said in its intelligence update that the first tranches of men drafted in the mobilization had begun arriving at military bases, with Russia now facing “an administrative and logistical challenge to provide training for the troops.”
“Unlike most Western armies, the Russian military provides low-level, initial training to soldiers within their designated operational units, rather than in dedicated training establishments,” the update said. “Typically, one battalion within each Russian brigade will remain in garrison if the other two deploy and can provide a cadre of instructors to train new recruits or augmentees. However, Russia has deployed many of these third battalions to Ukraine.”
It added that many of the mobilized soldiers have not had military experience for “some years.”
“The lack of military trainers, and the haste with which Russia has started the mobilization, suggests that many of the drafted troops will deploy to the front line with minimal relevant preparation,” the ministry said. “They are likely to suffer a high attrition rate.”
Putin’s partial draft, which was announced last week, applies to Russian citizens in the reserves and those who have served in the army with “certain military specialties and relevant experience.” The order was expected to call up to 300,000 soldiers to fight for Russia as Ukrainian counteroffensives have resulted in several setbacks for Putin’s army.
There have already been indications that the mobilization process is not going smoothly for Russia. Videos have been circulating on social media that show drunk Russian men, believed to be recruits, heading for Ukraine.
Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs, posted a video on Twitter on Saturday showing who he said were drafted Russians handling firearms that appeared to be rusted with age.
The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) wrote in a recent assessment that Russia’s partial mobilization system was “struggling to execute the task Russian President Vladimir Putin set and will likely fail to produce mobilized reserve forces even of the low quality that Putin’s plans would have generated unless the Kremlin can rapidly fix fundamental and systemic problems.”
The reported issues with carrying out the Russian draft have been accompanied by strong pushback to the mobilization order within the country. The independent human rights project OVD-Info estimated that there have been 2,386 arrests at protests against the mobilization in Russia from September 21 to 26.
Newsweek reached out to Russia’s Defense Ministry for comment.
