Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ Russian soldiers who use their own or donated vehicles on the front lines now face being executed along with their commanders, according to Russian milbloggers, in a sharp escalation of the Russian army's counter-productive campaign against personally owned vehicles. ⬇️

2/ Huge losses of military vehicles have left Russian logistics at the front line – and even battlefield transportation – reliant on civilian vehicles. However, the Russian army has been cracking down on their use, despite the harm to its own logistics.

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1860029492628193472

3/ According to the Russian milblogger Anastasia Kashevarova, the Southern Military District's new commander has issued orders via audio messages (but not in writing) stating that troops using a personal vehicle will now be sent to their deaths along with their local commander:

4/ "- From November 27, any humanitarian vehicle without registration will be stopped and confiscated.

– The driver and the driver's commander who violated the order will go on assault.

– The blame is also placed on the deputy for armament of the regiment.

5/ "– Issuing a combat order for personal transport will also be punishable, starting from the fighter and ending with the commander of the military unit."

6/ The 'Mine Division' Telegram channel reports: "Regarding the confiscation of vehicles, the units are really in a mess. This is in the Donetsk direction. And many are afraid to talk about it openly, because they will immediately be reset [executed]."

7/ Another soldier writes to the pro-Wagner Group channel 'Reverse Side of the Medal':

"They are simply "shooting at our legs from behind", work is stopped!

Everyone is in shock, the district headquarters issued an order, clearly without thinking it through!

8/ "All our supplies and work of assault groups are connected with humanitarian transport, 'loaves' [Bukhankas], motorcycles, quads.

I hope that the officials above the district officers will see and understand that all this must be fixed!"

9/ According to the "On the move" channel, 70-80% of Russian frontline vehicles are privately owned. The author writes:

10/ "Let's start with the simplest example in the form of a unit in which I am currently located and perform tasks: absolutely all the vehicles in our glorious company are personal, which we took at our own expense and in some cases thanks to sponsorship,…

11/ …literally collecting from around the world. Of course, the transport is also refueled and repaired at our own expense, we do not have any compensation for expenses or anything else (and who will give it?).

12/ "The above-mentioned transport travels both in the rear and in the line of contact, accordingly, it also has to organize the delivery of fighters to the front and the removal of fighters from the front. In the rear zone, we also go for equipment, fuel, food, etc."

13/ Kashevarova fumes that the order also ignores the position of the Redut mercenary group or Chechnya's Akhmat, both of which exclusively use privately owned vehicles. She queries whether it is some kind of Ukrainian information warfare to demoralise Russian troops.

14/ If not, she warns, "then this is what awaits us:

1. Clashes at posts between the military and other services (Military Automobile Inspectorate, Military Police), which are ordered to confiscate transport.

15/ "2. Bleeding of the front, since mobile vehicles are mainly humanitarian transport and personal cars.

3. Refusal of humanitarian workers to bring transport to the front, since it will all go to the accounts of the Ministry of Defence.

16/ "4. Confiscation of personal cars and all humanitarian aid for their own use by unscrupulous command. Trade and enrichment of such "commanders".

5. Sending unwanted people to zeroing and appropriation of their cars."

17/ War correspondent Alexander Sladkov reports that donated vehicles are already being resold by unscrupulous commanders, sometimes without even bothering to remove the installed electronic warfare systems.

18/ "They were given to the unit, many [soldiers] register them in their own names, and then consider themselves its owner. Sometimes they sell them.

19/ "And when we buy vehicles for a motorcade, we see dozens of ads, we come to look, and they were too lazy to even remove the electronic warfare ...

20/ "That is, it is clear: the military often register the vehicles donated by humanitarian workers in their own names and then sell them, without even bothering to deregister them, just like the vehicles themselves, bought with public money. AND I PERSONALLY KNOW SUCH CASES!"

21/ The author of "On the move" explains that soldiers are often reluctant to put privately owned vehicles on the unit's equipment list, because corrupt commanders will take the opportunity to confiscate them for their own use:

22/ "So, let's say Vasya is going to the front. Since Vasya wants to be mobile, he takes his "swallow" [passenger car], purchased with his hard-earned money, with him.

23/ "Vasya, of course, understands all the risks, but he needs this car in the combat zone - to go with the guys to the line of contact, go to the hardware store or buy groceries, for other tasks.

24/ "And then they tell Vasya – put your car on the balance sheet of the unit, or else, yada yada. Well, Vasya, out of the kindness of his heart, does this, and then bam!

25/ "And that's it, the car is on the balance sheet of the unit and suddenly (aha) ends up with some incomprehensible Petya, guarding a top-secret compost pit deep in the rear, because the commander suddenly decided that Petya needed the car more, and Vasya can walk…

26/ …15 kilometers without getting tired. Well, Vasya's fellow soldiers will help him carry groceries and ammunition, wow, they're heroes!

27/ "As a result, Vasya is left with a bare bottom and is forced to perform certain tasks on foot, or look for some rides, and the working unit loses transport, because the unit has already decided everything for him."

28/ Sladkov concludes:

"1. The mess is due to the fact that there is a categorical shortage of regular vehicles in the Special Military Operation.

29/ "2. There is a regulatory framework on the basis of which the vehicles are taken away (an order), but it is so morally imperfect that it causes a storm of emotions among our fighting men."

30/ He recommends focusing Russian production on small military vehicles like the Ukrainian LuAZ to answer the Russian army's currently unmet needs for frontline transportation.

31/ "This is not rocket science. Don't hand over the cars confiscated in civilian life to the press, send them to the front (it worked out with the shotguns!).

32/ "And change the regulatory framework, according to which soldiers must be transported in Urals. This is mortally dangerous, they don't drive trucks to the front anymore!" /end

Sources:
🔹 t.me/akashevarova/7…
🔹 t.me/ASWman/32805
🔹 t.me/project_nd/274
🔹 t.me/project_nd/279
🔹 t.me/rsotmdivision/…
🔹 t.me/Sladkov_plus/1…