Appointed almost two weeks ago as the new Russian military commander in Ukraine, Valeri Gerasimov has chosen as a priority the discipline of soldiers, including the length of beards and hair of soldiers fighting in the invaded country.
According to a report from the UK Ministry of Defense, published on Monday (23), Gerasimov is “trying to suppress the use of unregulated uniforms, travel in civilian vehicles, the use of mobile phones and non-standard haircuts” .
The general’s focus on the appearance and grooming of troops fighting in Ukraine would have raised the ire of Russians in the occupied regions. “Senior officials of the [autoproclamada] People’s Republic of Donetsk described the priority as a ‘farce’ that will ‘difficult the process of destroying the enemy'”, says the British portfolio, which also reports on the criticisms made by the founder and leader of the Wagner Group. “War is what time for the active and brave, not the clean-shaven,” said Yevgeny Prigozhin.
The Russian Ministry of Defense would be trying to improve the professionalism of the Armed Forces and, probably, “testing and improving the effectiveness of chains of command down to the level of small units”, wrote last week the Institute for the Study of War (ISW, in English acronym).
The appointment of Valeri Gerasimov to the command of the Russian troops was seen not only as a sign of the intention to reinforce the position of the Ministry of Defense in the conduct of the war, but also to counterbalance the power obtained in recent months by the paramilitary group led by Prigojin.
But the general’s new guidelines, who would have been one of those responsible for drawing up the initial plan for the invasion of Ukraine, do not convince those who criticize Russia’s lack of progress on the ground.
“Russian forces continue to suffer operational stalemate and heavy casualties; the priority given to largely minor regulations by Gerasimov is likely to confirm the fears of many skeptics in Russia,” the British Ministry of Defense wrote.
According to the ISW, the insistence on compliance with regulations would, however, have a clear objective: to combat the lack of discipline that many critics say contributed to a series of humiliating defeats at the front.
“The Russian Ministry of Defense may have issued these guidelines in an attempt to gauge the effectiveness of Russian commanders in carrying out orders. The issue of hygiene on the front lines has long been a point of contention between lower-ranking commanders and the undisciplined troops who refuses to obey orders to shave,” considers the US-based think tank.
“While basic troop performance at the front line may seem like a trivial matter, in reality adherence to or disregard for such standards can indicate the professionalism or lack thereof of conventional forces.”
Defending the hygiene and appearance of Russian soldiers was defined in a recent interview by Viktor Sobolev, a retired lieutenant general who is currently a member of the Duma, the lower house of the Russian Parliament, as an “essential” aspect of military discipline.
Prigojin promptly criticized. “A soldier must fight. A soldier sees civilians once a month or less. 80% of the time at the front, soldiers wash themselves with a bottle and shaving is usually a great luxury,” he wrote. the leader of the Wagner Group on his Telegram account.
In its analysis, the ISW sees, however, the benefits of imposing the measures. “In demoralized units, failure to adhere to such standards can fuel demoralization and underperformance. Trying to enforce these standards, even in the circumstances faced by the Russian military in Ukraine, therefore makes sense.”
The row over the size of Russian soldiers’ beards is yet another incident in the degradation of relations between the Kremlin and the external forces fighting for Russia in Ukraine, namely the Wagner Group. The ISW, in its most recent analysis, reports on the growing marginalization of Prigojin and his group of mercenaries, which was visible in the announcement of the conquest of the mining town of Soledar by the leader of Wagner and which Moscow refused to confirm.
“The decision to [Vladimir] Putin’s decision to focus and rely on conventional Russian forces is marginalizing the Wagner Group, which nevertheless continues to contribute to Russian war efforts in Ukraine”, says ISW, for whom the Russian president “may have felt threatened by the rise of Prigojin and his self-assertion”.
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