🧵Russia decreed a massive, high-tech new Unmanned Systems Force.
There is just one problem: the students they want are refusing to sign, so the Kremlin is filling its elite drone branch with men over 50 who physically cannot hold a controller. 1/🇷🇺⬇️🇺🇦🦩🧵
There is just one problem: the students they want are refusing to sign, so the Kremlin is filling its elite drone branch with men over 50 who physically cannot hold a controller. 1/🇷🇺⬇️🇺🇦🦩🧵
The scale of the failure is staggering. According to internal Ministry of Defense documents, the state planned to recruit 78,800 drone specialists by the end of 2026, relying on universities and technical pools to provide 58,000 of them. 2/
To meet the mid-year target of 34,400 operators, the state offered massive 5.5-million-ruble packages and ordered private companies to meet strict recruitment quotas.
Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko just admitted the reality: they got barely 8,000. 3/
Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko just admitted the reality: they got barely 8,000. 3/
That is a nearly 75 percent shortfall in six months. The students completely rejected the offers because they read the fine print.
The contract says any recruit judged "unsuitable" for the drone branch can be transferred directly into frontline infantry assaults. 4/
The contract says any recruit judged "unsuitable" for the drone branch can be transferred directly into frontline infantry assaults. 4/
And the students have seen exactly what the Russian military does to its actual drone operators.
In the 245th Regiment, an elite, self-funded drone platoon transmitted daily strike reports. But they kept asking for official equipment. 5/
In the 245th Regiment, an elite, self-funded drone platoon transmitted daily strike reports. But they kept asking for official equipment. 5/
Instead of resupplying them, the command dissolved the platoon and sent the trained operators into meat-grinder trench assaults.
The military is destroying its real capability while building a fake one on paper. 6/
The military is destroying its real capability while building a fake one on paper. 6/
This is Russia’s core dilemma: the Kremlin can order budgets, schedules, and branches, but it cannot command reality to comply.
And the exact same illusion is currently collapsing the domestic economy. 7/
And the exact same illusion is currently collapsing the domestic economy. 7/
Ukrainian strikes have cut Russian gasoline output so deeply that a petrostate is now rationing fuel.
The Agriculture Ministry is even asking farmers if they can run their tractors on boiler heating oil. 8/
The Agriculture Ministry is even asking farmers if they can run their tractors on boiler heating oil. 8/
Bus drivers in Volgograd are queuing for priority diesel outside working hours, completely unpaid.
When citizens complained about the shortages, state politicians mocked them on TV, telling grown men not to whine like teenagers missing a disco. 9/
When citizens complained about the shortages, state politicians mocked them on TV, telling grown men not to whine like teenagers missing a disco. 9/
A politician can mock a bus driver into silence. The state cannot mock the sovereign debt market.
The Finance Ministry just suspended all federal bond auctions. Why? Because investors simply refused to buy government debt at mandated prices. 10/
The Finance Ministry just suspended all federal bond auctions. Why? Because investors simply refused to buy government debt at mandated prices. 10/
The government literally "stabilized" the bond market by refusing to sell bonds.
Meanwhile, bank paper losses exceeded half a trillion rubles in a single month, and long-term yields are approaching 17 percent. 11/
Meanwhile, bank paper losses exceeded half a trillion rubles in a single month, and long-term yields are approaching 17 percent. 11/
Even physical damage is being erased on paper. When a drone blows the roof off a house, 88 percent of Russian insurers refuse to cover it as a standalone risk.
The blast is forced into different legal categories just to avoid paying out. 12/
The blast is forced into different legal categories just to avoid paying out. 12/
Paper is all the state has left. In Moscow, military police hunted a man for desertion who never even joined the army.
The system forged his contract, pocketed his pay, and sent the police to find a human to match the paperwork. 13/
The system forged his contract, pocketed his pay, and sent the police to find a human to match the paperwork. 13/
A forged soldier. A missing bond buyer. An unpaid driver. A drone branch short of 26,000 operators.
The Kremlin can write the schedules and classify the risks. But the state still needs someone to sign the contract. 14/
The Kremlin can write the schedules and classify the risks. But the state still needs someone to sign the contract. 14/
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