Russia’s military is facing a mental health crisis with well over 100,000 personnel suffering PTSD – and soldiers unfit to fight being sent to the frontline
- There are at least 100,000 Russian soldiers suffering PTSD, the MoD said
- The true number is expected to be much bigger
- Russian soldiers are reportedly not allowed to leave the army
Russia’s military is facing a worsening mental health crisis, with at least 100,000 personnel suffering from PTSD 20 months into the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
The UK’s ministry of defence said in its latest intelligence briefing that in December 2022, Russian psychologists identified the huge hoard of shaken soldiers, and added that the number has ‘almost certainly’ risen since.
Russia’s military leaders have reportedly failed to provide enough rest and recuperation for their battle-weary soldiers, and have also not provided enough rotation.
The MoD added that there were indications of Russian doctors ‘sending military personnel who are unfit to fight to the front.’
It said that appeal claims against the military’s medical commissions were higher in 2023 than they were in 2022, with many case being denied or simply abandoned.
There are said to be at least 100,000 Russian soldiers suffering from PTSD
The UK’s MoD says that poor military management is worsening the mental health crisis among Russia’s soldiers
Russian soldiers have not been allowed to leave the army since September 2022, the RAND Corporation think-tank said
These problems have been highlighted by several top-level military leaders in Russia, including the former 58th Combines Arms Army’s General Major Ivan Popov, who was dismissed earlier this year for questioning the Kremlin’s war management.
He also accused senior Kremlin leadership of betraying Russian soldiers and ‘decapitating’ the army.
‘With a lack of care for its soldiers’ mental health and fitness to fight, Russia’s combat fighting effectiveness continues to operate at sub-optimal levels,’ the intelligence briefing claimed.
Earlier this year, the RAND Corporation, an American think-tank, reported that no Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine, Europe’s bloodiest conflict in decades, have been allowed to leave since September 2022, following Vladimir Putin’s partial mobilisation decree.
No Russian soldier will reportedly be allowed out until the ‘period of partial mobilisation’ is ended by another decree, and there are not yet any indications that Putin will sign one.
The only ways out of military service for Russians fighting on the frontlines of Ukraine are reaching mandatory retirement age, medical discharge, imprisonment or death
The Institute for the Study of War said that many Russian soldiers are threatening to desert their posts
This means that the only ways out of military service for Russians fighting on the frontlines of Ukraine are reaching mandatory retirement age, medical discharge, imprisonment or death.
The RAND Corporation wrote: ‘Indefinite deployment and inadequate rest and rotation, due to a shortage of soldiers, mean that Russian soldiers endure prolonged exposure to combat stress, which intensifies feelings of resentment and helplessness.’
The Institute for the Study of War said that many soldiers are threatening to desert their posts.
The MoD’s briefing comes days after Putin’s Black Sea Fleet was seen performing a major retreat.
Russian warships were evacuated from Sevastopol some 237 miles to Novorossiysk on Russia’s southern coast, in what British Defence Minister James Heappey called ‘the functional defeat of the Black Sea Fleet’.
The move of the fleet is seen as a tangible gain from Ukraine’s strategy of targeting Crimea – which Russia invaded in 2014 – with missiles and drones.
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