Putin’s wars

by Mark Galeotti

Dr Galeotti is one of the world’s leading experts on Russia, and in this book he lays out the journey of Putin to the war in the Ukraine. Expect to learn more about the key figures, from the transfer of power from Gorbachev and Yeltsin to Putin. The book is, of course, mainly about Putin’s wars, but briefly covers events ahead of Putin and rapidly covers his progression from nobody to leadership of Russia.

The book is divided into five parts:

• Part one covers the period before Putin, the first Chechen war, Gorbachev and Yeltsin.

• Part two covers Putin’s rise, how he climbed to power, his priorities whilst in power, the Second Chechen war, War in Georgia and changes to the military structure and approach.

• Part three is titled ‘the new cold war’, the wars in Crimea, the Donbas, and Syria.

• Part four covers the rearmament of Russia, as it builds for reclamation ex-Soviet nations.

• Part five covers the future. The importance of political warfare and how warfare has changed for modern times. Of course, the book was adapted to cover the Ukraine War, and asks the question of whether this is Putin’s last war. The very last section asks if Russia can be thought of as 'the Eurasian Sparta?' With its tendency to oligarchy and control, there’s perhaps accusatory overtones of the spartan-helot slavery relationship in this comparison to Russia and the ex-Soviet states.

Hegemony or taking back what’s theirs?

Although many of Putin’s wars go back to the breaking up of the USSR, and one might be able to broadly generalise the wars as ‘retaking or exerting desired amounts of control over ex-Soviet regions’, the wars of Russia can be quite complex. Once the USSR was broken up, it often left complicated mixes of disparate ethnic, religious, and pro-Russia or pro-Western groups vying for control.

Chechnya and the battles for Grozny create a picture of constant turmoil, where the tough Chechens outfoxed Russia in the first Chechen war and the various tactics they used to achieve it through sheer stubbornness, resourcefulness and tall building ambushes, striking tanks with RPGs where their armour is weakest: from above.

The book very much takes a westernised view, but it is a balanced one that calls out both the successes and failures, strengths and weaknesses of actors and events. Issues within the military, such as lack of accommodation or food for Russian soldiers, some awful stories of hazing and dedovschina or grandfatherism, the bullying split between older soldiers and younger conscripts. In one particularly horrifying tale at Chelyabinsk Tank School, a platoon sergeant ordered a draftee to sit in a squat position for hours, beating him if he tried to move. Blood clotted in his legs and genitals, and they had to be amputated. One of the doctors tipped off a charity which led to repercussions which may not have occurred without the tipoff (pp.110-111).

This book is detailed. It contains many names of ministers, their roles, who was commanding what, detailed exploration of military forces and vehicles in use at different times. It is useful as a resource for people wanting to really delve into Russian military structure, and there are certainly sections that go into – perhaps for everyone except those I just mentioned – overly much detail on this. At times though, it is certainly interesting, such as detailing the efficacy of the newer T14 tank and it replacing the T80U. Galeotti is great at exploring the repercussions of both the flaws of the T14 – reliability, high cost – and the vested interest of buying from Uralvagonzavod due to a tank foreman, Igor Kolmanskikh, doing favours for Putin previously (pp.237). As Galeotti often points out, Putin knows how to reward loyalty.

Illustrative despite the detail

It’s not all just detail though. Galeotti’s descriptions can be quite colourful and interesting. Grachyov, whom Boris Yeltsin made minister and was un-affectionately known as ‘Pasha Mercedes’ for the German car collection he amassed with money intended for the withdrawal of forces from Germany (pp.52), is the object of plenty of criticism, seemingly rightfully:

‘Grachyov’s tragedy was that he was the quintessential fighting general – personally brave, an officer most at home on the offense – in an era when his job was really about managing decline, one which demanded not elan but adroit political skills, personal honesty and a comprehensive attention to detail. Sadly, he had none of these characteristics.' (pp.50)

Galeotti includes a useful mix of evaluation and anecdotes, such as when he drinks with Russian soldiers, or visiting military displays by the Russian army, to help bring the narrative to life.

Part four contained some of the best analysis of the whole book, evaluating Russia’s power in particular strands of her military. Land, sea, air and nuclear power are all considered, as are various other aspects. The Russian have strength in the longer range of their artillery. They leaned heavily on their paratrooper regiments in the Chechen wars. The section about the Spetsnaz contrasted the popular image with the reality:

‘Their name is a contraction of Spetsialnoye Naznacheniya, ‘of special designation’ or ‘of special purpose’. This is quite a significant detail: they are not ‘special forces’ as such in the Western sense, which places the emphasis on the ‘specialness’ of the operators themselves. Instead, what is distinctive is the special role which is assigned to these troops. After all, until recently, many or even most Spetsnaz have been conscripts, and while ‘more special’ than regular soldiers, even paratroopers and the like, they can hardly be considered in the same elevated terms as the Western elite forces with which they were often misleadingly compared, such as Britain’s SAS or America’s Seals and Green Berets.’ (pp.289)

Structured and balanced?

As you can see from the wide array of aspects and perspectives, it is very much a balanced view albeit a Western one. No stone goes unturned, from incorporating modern developments in the Russian army, such as the intended adoption of modernised tanks and drones, to going back to the changes since Soviet Russia. The book is structured very well, and I get the impression this reduces a lot of confusion that might be seen in other books on the topic.

Final score

This book’s aim is to provide an assessment of the wars, military effectiveness, and prediction for the future of Putin. Hopefully, in the view of many westerners, Ukraine will be the last of Putin’s wars. This book provides a balanced and detailed account, broken up by moments of illustrator colour. It perhaps loses marks for the casual reader for being exhaustive in places, but people desiring that will be very content. For most readers, it is an illuminating and effective account of a complex set of wars and politics.

8/10