Sergei Pugachev was once considered the treasurer of the Kremlin. As a close advisor to Vladimir Putin, he closely followed the methods used by the then freshly crowned President to secure his power. The consequences of these methods are now being seen in Ukraine.
The lightning victory over Ukraine that Vladimir Putin had already envisaged for last weekend has remained a fantasy. The Ukrainian army and the civilian population continue to put up fierce resistance, which is causing more and more casualties among Russian soldiers. But it is not only the resistance of the Ukrainians that is preventing a quick victory, but also the desolate state of the Russian army.
“Morale is low, nothing has been organized, soldiers don’t want to fight and willingly give up their equipment”, military expert Michael Kofman sums up the situation. Kofman is the Research Program Manager for Russian Studies at CNA, a US government-sponsored research and development center of the US Navy and US Marine Corps. His research focuses on Russia and the Russian Armed Forces.
The condition of the Russian army is disastrous and that is anything but a coincidence, says Putin’s former companion, Sergei Pugachev. Out of fear of his own military, the head of the Kremlin had deliberately ruined the army over the past 20 years, he explained in the .
In the 1990s, Pugachev was part of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin’s inner circle, including leading his 1996 election campaign and also being involved in the transfer of power to Putin. Pugachev was once considered “Banker and Treasurer of the Kremlin”. Once he had built up one of the most successful banking companies in Russia, acted for almost ten years as a senator in the small republic of Tuva on the Mongolian border and was still in 2008 in intelligence circles as a man with “close ties to Putin” viewed. In January 2011, however, he fled abroad after the oligarch came under fire for suspected fraud and embezzlement of state aid – probably because he had fallen out of favor or become too rich.
“When Putin came to power in 2000, he immediately changed the defense minister”Pugachev recalls today. “He appointed Sergei Ivanov to this post, a corrupt, average FSB man with no managerial skills.” This laid the foundation for a 20-year practice. Ivanov had previously proved himself in the eyes of the new president as Putin’s deputy at the Russian domestic intelligence agency FSB. When Putin took him into government with him, Ivanov became the first man in the position of defense minister not from Russia’s military elite.
“It is no coincidence that no one around him served in the army”
“Ivanov was a man totally disrespected by the army”, says Pugachev. And that was the main reason for his appointment. “Putin has always feared a military conspiracy or military overthrow. It is no coincidence that no one around him served in the army.” By appointing Ivanov, Putin wanted to avoid this danger. But as a result, the army was left to completely disintegrate, says the former banker.
Furniture dealer as Secretary of Defense
In 2007, Anatoly Serdyukov took over as defense minister after Putin recalled Ivanov. But Putin remained true to the principle of filling the post with men without any military experience. After completing his studies at the College of Soviet Trade in what was then Leningrad, Serdyukov first worked for a local furniture dealer. In 2000 he entered the civil service and took a job with the tax inspectorate. His last post before being promoted to defense minister was at the Federal Tax Service, of which Serdyukov was appointed head in July 2004.
“Putin surrounds himself with people who are comfortable for him. Serdyukov was brought into Putin’s circle by his father-in-law Viktor Zubkov. Putin treats Zubkov with great respect”, explains Pugachev. Subkov was Prime Minister from 2007 to May 2008. From 2008 he was First Deputy Prime Minister during the presidency of Dmitry Medvedev.
“When Serdyukov was offered the post of defense minister he said to me, ‘How can I be defense minister when I’ve only served two years in Moldova as a chauffeur.'” Serdyukov refused for a long time, but Putin was able to persuade him in the end. The President cited his economic skills as the reason for his appointment. “I don’t need an army at all. It belongs to the last century”Putin said to Serdyukov at the time, reports the former confidant of the Kremlin boss.
The exploitation of the military
What the Kremlin lord needed, according to his former adviser, was the conversion of military assets into cash. Serdyukov should monetize everything that could be monetized. The only condition: the new defense minister should not keep more than two percent of the sales for himself, Pugachev recalls. “This episode demonstrates Putin’s relationship with the army. He did not act like Hitler, who began building up the military as early as 1933. In contrast: Putin destroyed the army.”
Current Defense Minister Shoigu continues the tradition
In 2012 Sergei Shoigu finally took over after Putin fired Serdyukov. A company that was subordinate to the Ministry of Defense was accused of embezzling 78 million euros. “He probably stole more than two percent”Pugachev jokes about the former defense minister.
But the new defense minister was also to Putin’s taste. Schoigu still jingles for him with all his medals, which have no basis whatsoever. The trained civil engineer has not served a single day in the army.
After 20 years under Putin’s rule, we see an absolutely humiliated, demoralized, robbed army.
“After 20 years under Putin’s rule, we see an absolutely humiliated, demoralized, robbed army. She was one of the sources of appropriation of state funds. And Schoigu has mastered this task with flying colors to this day.”
The result of this policy can now be seen in Ukraine, where tanks from the 1980s are being used. In fact, the majority of the technology used there comes from old stocks, at most with a few modernizations. The Russian invasion turns into a military fiasco. From a spate of interviews with captured Russian soldiers and accounts from their parents, it appears that the troops themselves had no idea they would be involved in an invasion. In addition, there are increasing reports that the Russian soldiers are running out of supplies – both food and fuel for their vehicles. Residents of Ukrainian towns and villages report that soldiers are knocking on their doors and are actually begging.
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“The Russian army lacks the skills, technology and desire to take Ukraine”says Pugachev. “If the leadership of the Russian army actually had the desire to do this, they would do it differently.” Like in Syria, for example, where Aleppo was reduced to rubble and ash. “But the army is not ready for this”the former Putin adviser is certain. “The distance between Shoigu and the generals who actually command the army is much greater than the distance between Shoigu and Putin sitting at a table”Pugachev remarks pointedly, alluding to the huge table that tends to separate the defense minister from the president.
“Vladimir Putin is finished”
This is also the reason why he cannot imagine the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Even if Putin were to issue the corresponding order, which his former adviser believes the Russian ruler is capable of. “The generals will not be ready to start a nuclear war”Pugachev declares emphatically. “Putin is finished. Putin’s Russia is finished. His Russia will no longer exist, thanks to Ukraine”.
Source: Stern
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