“Very many” of the approximately 200,000 deaths and injuries on the Russian side since the start of the invasion of Ukraine are not due to fighting but to excessive drinking, according to the British defense ministry.
Reference is made to a Russian news channel that posted the message on Telegram last week. It stated, according to British intelligence services, that “an extreme number of incidents, crimes and deaths resulted from alcohol consumption among Russian troops.” Russian commanders are likely to view “pervasive alcohol abuse” as “particularly detrimental to effectiveness.”
The British note that “heavy drinking” is widespread in Russian society and has long been “a tacitly accepted part of military life, even during combat operations.”
Other important causes for the Russian losses are probably poor weapons training, traffic accidents and harsh weather conditions, causing hypothermia, for example.
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