December 12, 2024: Russian troops in Ukraine have suffered such high losses since early 2022 that the Russian army has run out of soldiers. Russia recently hired 12,000 North Korean soldiers to help fight the still combative Ukrainian forces. It was also recently revealed, by accident, that Russia has lost over 700,000 killed or disabled fighting in Ukraine. Many of the wounded suffered further when they found that the Russian medical system was unable to adequately treat them.

Meanwhile Russian generals and contractors are still being caught supplying sub-standard equipment, services and other supplies to the troops in Ukraine. This sort of thing was common before this war, and even when the communists ran the country and before that under the rules of tsars and an aristocracy. The scams that leave new Russian troops with shoddy equipment became embarrassing news on the Internet, where soldiers often go to describe how they were cheated by some corrupt supplier. Corruption in state-owned defense firms and the space program get a lot of publicity but the delivery of shoddy or defective material to the troops in Ukraine is particularly embarrassing. Unfortunately, corruption is immune to embarrassment.

The Russian military has always suffered from corruption though there was little of it during World War Two, at least noticeably. Russians call that conflict the Great Patriotic War. Currently Russians regard the invasion of Ukraine less favorably and the corruption is rampant. The government is cracking down on corruption but that only forced the corrupt activities to assume a lower profile and pretend that the crackdown was working.

Leader Vladimir Putin thought the Ukraine War would be over in days or weeks. It wasn’t and is now in its third year. Unlike World War II, the Russians invaded Ukraine and lost. Over half a million Russian soldiers are dead or incapacitated by wounds. The government pays families of dead soldiers tens of thousands of dollars. For families in rural areas, where most of the dead soldiers came from, this amount of cash is life changing. Soldiers who were badly wounded in Ukraine get lesser amounts but still enough to greatly improve their lives. Russia is spending 8 percent of the government budget on these payments and that has reduced the anger over dead or disabled soldiers to manageable levels. These billions, plus even more spent on continuing the war, have forced the government to go into debt.

The war also brought with it economic sanctions by NATO nations supporting Ukraine. This has crippled the economy and forced the government to take on still more debt. This will take Russia decades to deal with once the war is over. The war is not over, despite growing pressure from Putin’s business allies, the oligarchs. These executives see the war as bad for business and urge Putin to somehow, anyhow, stop the conflict.

Ukraine is willing to end the war if they get back all the Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, that Russia has occupied since 2014. Putin is unwilling to do this even though his oligarch allies urge him to do so. Putin sees ending the war and returning stolen territories as proof that Putin’s War was all for nothing and cost Russia so much. Putin believes admitting defeat would end his quarter century in power. This would open Putin to prosecution. He cannot flee the country because foreign nations indicted him for war crimes three years ago.

Putin’s only response to this is dubious assurances that he can set things right. He can’t and chaos looms along with growing corruption and demands for a new government. While Putin won a 2023 election for another six years in power, he and many other Russians wonder if he or Russia will be able to survive another six years of misrule.

Opinion polls show that most Russians accept corruption as a basic element in Russian culture and unlikely to be eliminated any time soon. Most Russians also complain that the prevalence of corruption hurts the economy and is another unpleasant aspect of life in Russia. While the government generates a lot of publicity about anti-corruption efforts, it is widely understood that, when some major government official or former official is arrested and charged with corruption there is more to the story. First, the official is probably guilty as charged and the details make interesting reading. The other part of the story is generally not published and involves the details of which other senior officials the corrupt official offended. Issues over sharing are the usual reason for a senior politician or military officer being prosecuted for corruption. While there may be no honor among thieves, there is a code of conduct and those who misbehave are publicly spanked, lose a lot of money and often spend some time in prison.

Another unique aspect of Russian corruption is that it is more prevalent in the military because theft of state property has been the Russian national pastime for centuries. This corruption is seen as a major factor in Russian combat disasters. Even military leaders accept that, but in peacetime the opportunities are too abundant and the discipline too inadequate to prevent corruption. Government prosecutors estimate that military corruption costs the military over $500 million a year and disrupts the operation of units, major programs and everything else. Despite the frequent prosecutions it is believed corruption in the military is increasing. There were 2,800 officers and officials prosecuted in 2018, an increase over previous years despite so many of those prosecuted getting convicted and imprisoned.

In 2013 Russian prosecutors announced that they had arrested three army officers and accused them of stealing seven tons of fuel. To make matters worse, this was not a gang operation but three officers each operating independently and stealing diesel from large tanker trucks sent to support the first annual tank gunnery and driving competition. This event got a lot of publicity. Despite all that attention, these three officers thought they could divert about $5,000 worth of diesel fuel to the black market. Such fuel thefts are not unusual in the army, and most perpetrators are not caught. But these three officers were bold, or stupid, and tried to flitch the fuel at a high-profile event. The actual theft occurred while fuel and other resources were stockpiled for the event. Such criminality is all too common and Russian corruption investigators believe that about 20 percent of the military budget is lost to corruption and outright theft. Despite more frequent arrests and prosecution of offenders, the stealing continues.

The Russian military has always suffered from corruption though there was little of it during World War Two, at least noticeably. Russians call that conflict the Great Patriotic War. Currently Russians regard the invasion of Ukraine less favorably and corruption is rampant in it. The government is cracking down on corruption but that only forced the corrupt activities to assume a lower profile and pretend that the crackdown was working.

Leader Vladimir Putin thought the Ukraine War would be over in days or weeks. It wasn’t and is now in its third year. Unlike World War II, the Russians invaded Ukraine and is losing. Russia’s ability to continue the war is clearly less than Ukraine’s provided NATO and US support continues. The Russian government pays families of dead soldiers tens of thousands of dollars. For families in rural areas, where most of the dead soldiers came from, this amount of cash is life changing. Soldiers who were badly wounded in Ukraine get lesser amounts but still enough to greatly improve their lives. Russia is spending 8 percent of the government budget on these payments and that has reduced the anger over dead or disabled soldiers to manageable levels. These billions, plus even more spent on continuing the war, have forced the government to go into debt.

The war also brought with it economic sanctions by NATO nations supporting Ukraine. This has crippled the economy and forced the government to take on still more debt. This will take Russia decades to deal with once the war is over. Russia’s economy will continue to deteriorate for years after the war is over because its railroad system is collapsing and can get better only when the railroad collapse levels off. The war is not over, despite growing pressure from President Putin’s business allies, the oligarchs. These executives see the war as bad for business and urge Putin to somehow, anyhow, stop the conflict.

Ukraine is willing to end the war, if they get back all the Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, that Russia has occupied since 2014. Putin is unwilling to do this even though his oligarch allies urge him to do so. Putin sees ending the war and returning stolen territories as proof that Putin’s War was all for nothing and cost Russia so much. Putin believes admitting defeat would end his quarter century in power. This would open Putin to prosecution. He cannot flee the country because foreign nations indicted him for war crimes three years ago.

The oligarchs and military commanders blame Putin for this defeat. While all this is going on, prosecutors are accusing more and more prominent Russians of corruption as opportunistic businessmen and generals steal billions and seek to find a safe exile where they can settle down and live luxuriously. Millions of military age Russian men have already fled the country to avoid military service and the high risk of death or disability in Ukraine.

Putin’s only response to this is dubious assurances that he can set things right. He can’t and chaos looms along with growing corruption and demands for a new government. While Putin won a 2023 election for another six years in power, he and many other Russians wonder if he or Russia will be able to survive another six years of misrule.