Everybody has weapons’: Russia’s balkanized military sparks civil unrest concerns

[Guno צְבִי]

“Different factions within the government,” he said, “will fight for the power [to rule] because evidently the competition between clans will increase … because they have a lot of weapons now. Even criminals have weapons. Chechens have weapons. Internal Ministry has weapons. The Defence Ministry has weapons. KGB — the FSB — have weapons. Everybody has weapons.”



Faced with the prospect of a humiliating defeat in the war in Ukraine, the Kremlin has turned to the traditional last refuge of Russian dictatorships — the use of brute force — in order to affect a change in the situation. While these desperate measures have so far failed to advance any prospects of a Russian victory in Ukraine, what Remchukov and others worry is that the mass arming of a population with little loyalty to a central government will ultimately lead to power grabs inside Russia — in essence, a form of civil war.

Even before the war, there was a fascinating power dynamic forming between the regular Russian military and the Wagner Group, an infamous mercenary company that has acted, effectively, its own branch of the defense forces.

https://breakingdefense.com/2022/12...anized-military-sparks-civil-unrest-concerns/

 

[Guno צְבִי]

Wagner is the most well-known, but hardly the only, military power outside the regular ranks. Kadyrov has his own force of Chechen units taking part in the combat, while the Russian national guard seems to operate on its own. (The New York Times piece featured an anecdote where Russian military regulars and Russian national guard forces fired upon each other.) Even within the government, Russia’s security services now use their personnel, weapons and other resources to serve their own institutional interests — which, thanks to rampant corruption, can often run counter to those of the Russian state itself.

All of these groups represent a crucial blow to a key part of any government’s legitimacy: the monopoly on the use of military force. But instead of trying to curtail non-governmental power, Russia appears poised to replicate this practice of private armies being used where the morale and fighting spirit of the regular military is lacking.

 

[Hawkeye10]

This guy spent two decades in Kiev before bugging out to Poland...He has to be assumed to be spewing Ukrainian propaganda until proven otherwise. He was also captured by the Russians for two weeks, another reason to take anything he says with a grain of salt. He has written many dozens of pieces about the war in several places, every one that I have seen is pro-Ukraine.

 

[Hawkeye10]

Recommended:

 

[T. A. Gardner]

“Different factions within the government,” he said, “will fight for the power [to rule] because evidently the competition between clans will increase … because they have a lot of weapons now. Even criminals have weapons. Chechens have weapons. Internal Ministry has weapons. The Defence Ministry has weapons. KGB — the FSB — have weapons. Everybody has weapons.”



Faced with the prospect of a humiliating defeat in the war in Ukraine, the Kremlin has turned to the traditional last refuge of Russian dictatorships — the use of brute force — in order to affect a change in the situation. While these desperate measures have so far failed to advance any prospects of a Russian victory in Ukraine, what Remchukov and others worry is that the mass arming of a population with little loyalty to a central government will ultimately lead to power grabs inside Russia — in essence, a form of civil war.

Even before the war, there was a fascinating power dynamic forming between the regular Russian military and the Wagner Group, an infamous mercenary company that has acted, effectively, its own branch of the defense forces.

https://breakingdefense.com/2022/12...anized-military-sparks-civil-unrest-concerns/

Sounds a lot like the US to me. Why does the EPA have weapons and SWAT teams as but one example? Every major police department in the US is militarized to one extent or another. Mercenary companies abound. Everybody has weapons, and by comparison, the US is far better armed...

 

[Hawkeye10]

Sounds a lot like the US to me. Why does the EPA have weapons and SWAT teams as but one example? Every major police department in the US is militarized to one extent or another. Mercenary companies abound. Everybody has weapons, and by comparison, the US is far better armed...

The US military for 20+ years has routinely contracted out military operations to private contractors. We also do the trick of having the CIA do military ops rather than the military, so that the Regime can keep what they do secret, from us and from our elected officials.