For years, Russian President Vladimir Putin was told what he wanted to hear from his military leaders. That corruption in defense is still only marginal. And that he has a state-of-the-art army that would be invincible. That army, it now appears, only existed on paper. And corruption was rampant.
In the days before the invasion of Ukraine, every military expert warned of the mighty Russian army. It was no longer to be trifled with, as in the Soviet days. The worn-out weapons had been replaced by a modern and accurate arsenal. The lame juggernaut had slimmed down to an efficient army. But years of corruption had eroded military power, it turned out later. President Putin was only told what he wanted to hear.
The story of the delusion begins years ago. In 2007, President Putin caused a palace revolution in the military leadership. He appoints Anatoly Serdyukov, a furniture salesman and close acquaintance, as Minister of Defense. He must modernize the Russian army. He will receive 400 billion euros to equip the army with the latest weapons in 15 years.
He was suddenly fired in 2012. The anti-corruption services raid an employee of his department, Yevgeniya Vasilyeva. In her apartment they find tens of thousands of euros in cash, 685,000 euros worth of jewelry and dozens of expensive paintings. And in her bedroom Anatoly Serdyukov. It is the extramarital relationship that costs him the head. Not the large-scale fraud committed with his knowledge by his mistress. Serdyukov is promoted by the president himself.
Fraud is rampant in all areas
When corruption is condoned at the top, it opens the door for everyone to take a stab at the cash. The defense budget is so large – 60 billion in 2022 – that it is assumed that no one will notice. Fraud is rampant in all areas, so there is hardly any clicking. Only if it gets too hot.
General Oleg Kistov was too greedy and was betrayed. He made 300 tons of diesel for tanks disappear during ‘a cleaning operation’. Fuel is referred to as “the second currency” in the military. Payment is often made in stolen oil because there is hardly any inventory of the stock. Soldiers sell jerry cans of fuel – sometimes from their own trucks or tanks – to buy extra food.
So did the troops on exercise at the Ukrainian border. The fact that the advance to Kiev stalled was partly due to a lack of fuel. The ex-minister of defense is appointed director at Rostec, the state-owned company that is the linchpin in everything related to weapons development and production. With 700 military companies, it accounts for more than half of Russia’s war industry. Fortunes are flowing to it.
Rostec oversees the research and development of new weapon systems and also produces weapons itself: from helicopters, armored cars and Kalashnikovs to night vision goggles. The CEO is Sergei Chemezov, an old friend of President Putin whom he met in East Germany. The Panama and Pandora Papers (the large collection of confidential financial documents leaked in 2015 and 2021) show that the CEO’s relatives own luxury apartments in Moscow, expensive Spanish villas and a superyacht, the Valerie. Investigators point to internal corruption and the levying of percentages on arms sales to foreign countries.
In April this year, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense sends a mocking thank you to colleagues in Moscow. The letter is addressed to Serdyukov’s successor, current Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. He is thanked “for the corruption” that undermines Russian morale. Attached are some photos. From a tank reinforced with empty egg cartons and bulletproof vests made of cardboard. If you pay a lot of money for a contract and want to earn a lot of money yourself, you have to save somewhere.
Rations are also shown with an expiration date of 2015. These come from a sister company of the Wagner Group. Its owner is Putin’s cook and friend, Yevgeny Prigozhin. His group supplies rations, but also operates barracks and training centers. According to those involved, they are ‘in a worse condition than the prisons’. The food also appears to be regularly contaminated with the dangerous ‘poop bacteria’ E.coli.
Body armor is especially popular to trade
Wagner foreman Prigozhin has often been referred to as the man who systematically milks Defense for hundreds of millions. The oligarch is very richly paid for the minimal services of his group. At that time, the first calls for crowdfunding from the boys at the front also emerged. They appear to have a shortage of the most basic equipment: boots, night vision goggles, helmets or protective clothing. Earlier, under Anatoly Serdyukov, it was ordered to provide the navy and ground forces with state-of-the-art Ratnik combat equipment with all the trimmings. Yet more parts from that Ratnik package seem to be found on the Russian version of Marktplaats than in the barracks or at the front. Especially the bulletproof vests are popular to trade. Like other pieces of military equipment, they are stolen from military depots and factory warehouses with inside help.
Yet in 2019, current Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu proudly declared that all troops had received Ratnik. Just as he announced at the end of 2021 that 70 percent of the modernization of the weapons arsenal had been completed. Based on pimped reports from Rostec and the arms industry. Deadlines were met, production volumes exceeded, the precision of the new weapons was never short of phenomenal. This is impossible due to the large sums of money skimmed off in the proceedings.
That army only existed on paper
Whether Shoigu himself believed those reports, no one knows. He didn’t bother to check them. Not even the Duma, Russia’s parliament, is allowed to control him and the rest of the Defense Forces. Defense is a state secret, a state within a state with a huge budget.
Everyone told Putin what he wanted to hear for years. That corruption in Defense is still only marginal. Or as he was told before the invasion: that the Russian army had 900,000 well-equipped soldiers, 12,000 state-of-the-art tanks, 3,000 precise missile systems and 6,000 accurate mobile self-propelled artillery.
That army, it now appears, only existed on paper.