Vadim Khludzinsky17:59, 05/18/24

The Russian ruler changed his government, merging the country’s defense and civilian economies to transform it into a permanently mobilized state.

A reshuffle in the government of the Russian Federation has shown that Russian ruler Vladimir Putin plans to change the country, turning it into a permanently mobilized state waging war – with profound consequences for the rest of the world. Russia expert Mark Galeotti writes about this in his article for The Times .

He points out that the main step was the removal of Sergei Shoigu, the long-serving defense minister, and his replacement by Andrei Belousov, a former deputy prime minister.

He recalled that in his first speech to the Federation Council, Belousov said that he had two priorities: the first is the full integration of the defense and civilian economies, which in fact means reorienting the national economy to the needs of war; the second is to make the department truly open to innovation, which means more than just buying more drones, electronic warfare systems and the like.

“While maintaining pressure on long-established targets in eastern Ukraine, such as the town of Chasov Yar, Russia also launched a new operation in the north, towards Kharkov, that demonstrated a level of sophistication that has not been its signature in this war. The force is not large enough to take Kharkov, but their goal is unclear: the intention could be to bring the city into artillery range, create a buffer zone against Ukrainian attacks across the border, or threaten Sumy in the west,” writes Galeotti.

Battlefield Impulse

According to the expert, Kyiv faces an unenviable choice. He has few reserves left, so to strengthen this new front, he must withdraw troops while the Russians innovate – now that it has become so dangerous for both sides to bring armored personnel carriers to the front line, Russian troops are using motorcycles and buggies to provide them with additional mobility on the battlefield.

“Attacks are increasingly being led by so-called ‘turtle tanks’. They may look lumbering as they rush forward under ungraceful metal barn-like superstructures, but together with sophisticated obstacle systems and mine-clearing rollers they help protect vehicles and their occupants from drones.” missiles and mines, which are the Ukrainians’ best response to armored attacks,” the author writes.

(C)UNIAN 2024