Russian President Vladimir Putin talks during his press conference at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit, on September 16, 2022, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
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Retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling said in a Washington Post op-ed Putin’s draft is a “recipe for slaughter.”
“They will not be prepared for what they will encounter,” said Hertling, former commander of the US Army in Europe.
Hertling’s assessment echoed a recent intelligence update from Britain’s Ministry of Defence
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to pursue a partial military mobilization and draft hundreds of thousands of reservists to fight Russia’s war in Ukraine is a “recipe for slaughter,” retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, former commander of the US Army in Europe, said in a new op-ed for the Washington Post.
“The call-up is an outrage, but not only for the reasons you might imagine. Sending new recruits, poorly trained Russian reservists and untrained civilians into Ukraine is a recipe for slaughter. They will not be prepared for what they will encounter,” Hertling wrote.
Putin said last Wednesday that only people who had previously served “and have specific military occupational specialties and corresponding experience” will be called up, but people with no prior military experience are being forced to enlist, according to recent reports.
“Putin might continue to send unwilling Russian men to an ill-conceived and illegal invasion for which they are not trained or prepared. But it’s not warfare. It’s just more murder — this time of its own citizens,” Hertling said.
Hertling said that as commander of the US Army in Europe, he visited Russia several times and observed how the Russian army trained its conscripts.
The former US general said that Russian drill sergeants were unprofessional and continuously harassed and hazed recruits,” while marksmanship training was “geared toward familiarization with a weapon, but not qualification on it.”
“Soldiers were allocated few rounds for practice on firing ranges. First aid training was rudimentary, map reading and land navigation was nonexistent, soldier initiative was lacking, and discipline was lax,” Hertling said. “Having watched the Russian army during the first seven months of its campaign in Ukraine, I cannot say I’m surprised by any of their setbacks. The Russians performed as their training would have suggested: poorly. The casualty counts reflect this. It is no wonder so many young Russians are fleeing the country.”
An intelligence update from Britain’s Ministry of Defense on Monday offered a similar assessment.
“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 UK update said, adding, “They are likely to suffer a high attrition rate.”
Putin’s mobilization decree has prompted protests across Russia and even instances of violence, as thousands of Russian men desperately attempt to exit their country. Recent satellite images showed a traffic jam at the Russia-Georgia border that stretched for almost 10 miles, and a man shot and wounded a recruitment officer in Siberia on Monday, the Washington Post reported.
The Kremlin on Monday acknowledged that there has been pushback to the mobilization decree.
“There are cases when the decree has been violated,” Peskov told reporters, per the New York Times. “In some regions, governors are actively working to correct the situation.”