Page 40 - RusRPTFeb24

Russian military engineers built up a deeply echeloned defence in Ukraine and installed close to 1.5mn antitank dragon’s teeth along the contact line, head of the Karbyshev Military Engineering Academy Major General Andrey Kruglov told the Zvezda TV channel. "Close to 1.5mn so-called non-explosive dragon’s teeth have been installed along the whole contact line," he said.
The Russian military has refined its recruitment of prisoners, distancing Vladimir Putin from the process and preventing inmate soldiers from returning to civilian life before the war’s end. According to a new investigation from BBC Russian journalists Elizaveta Fokht, Ilya Barabanov, and Olga Ivshina, the president no longer issues pardons to convicted criminals in exchange for serving brief tours in Ukraine; prisoners are now recruited to fight as long as the invasion lasts in exchange for probation, not exoneration. The BBC reviewed messages shared online between the relatives of inmate recruits and spoke to several of these soldiers and their family members. Journalists learned that the Russian military changed its recruitment strategy for prisoners in September 2023, ending what was known as “Storm Z” enlistment and pivoting to “Storm V.”
● Weapons
North Korea currently Russia's largest arms supplier. North Korea is currently Russia's largest arms supplier, Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) chief Kyrylo Budanov told the Financial Times in an interview published on Jan. 21.
Chinese military experts gave a low rating to the “analogue” hypersonic missiles Kinzhal. An analysis published in Beijing's leading military-science journal Military Arms calls the Kinzhal "essentially just an aircraft-launched version of the [ground-launched] Iskander tactical ballistic missile." The missile is practically unable to maneuver at supersonic speeds, and “its ability to glide in the atmosphere over long distances does not live up to expectations.”
Russia could run out of infantry fighting vehicles in two or three years, if a recent assessment is accurate, Forbes reports. It might run out of tanks around the same time. According to one count, the Russian armed forces went to war in Ukraine in February 2022 with 2,987 tanks. After 23 months of hard fighting, the Russians have lost at least 2,619 tanks that independent analysts can confirm. That’s 1,725 destroyed, 145 damaged, 205 abandoned and 544 captured T-55s, T-62s, T-72s, T-80s and T-90s. If the Kremlin didn’t have options for replacing war losses, the Russian military would be down to just 368 tanks: far too few to defend against Ukraine’s own armor corps, which between pre-war tanks, restored tanks and donated tanks—minus losses—might number around a thousand vehicles.
40 RUSSIA Country Report February 2024 www.intellinews.com