Russia’s deputy defence minister said the ministry had lengthened training and dropped some peacetime requirements that, in his view, prevented commanders from preparing soldiers more quickly.
Russia’s military has revised training programmes for service members several times, extending their duration, Deputy Defence Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov said in an interview with the magazine Politika. He said the changes reflected a need to adapt training to current combat conditions.
Yevkurov said commanders had gained more scope to prepare soldiers quickly after some peacetime requirements, instructions and safety rules were dropped. This was his description of the ministry’s approach in the interview.
The deputy minister also said weapons and their use were changing rapidly, requiring the military to keep looking for countermeasures. He named FPV drones among the main threats on the battlefield and added that experience from earlier wars and conflicts did not always match the conditions of modern combat.
In July, Viktor Goremykin, head of the Armed Forces’ Main Military-Political Directorate, spoke about the need to update and re-equip military universities in response to changes in warfare. Late last year, Defence Minister Andrey Belousov said a programme to raise the prestige of military service would be launched.