ISW: Russia to choose between skilled defence industrial complex workers, soldiers fighting in Ukraine

The Russian authorities will have to choose between skilled workers of the defence industrial complex and skilled soldiers who are fighting in Ukraine.

The statement came from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) on March 14, Caliber.Az reports.

"Russian authorities continue measures to mobilize the struggling Russian defence industrial base (DIB) for a protracted war effort, including measures that will force the Kremlin to choose between having skilled workers in the DIB and skilled military personnel fighting in Ukraine," ISW said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed during a March 14 visit to an aviation production plant in Ulan-Ude, Buryatia, that the DIB suffers from a lack of adequately trained personnel and announced a series of reforms to attract more specialists to work at military production plants, including the reallocation of federal assets to housing and increasing pay.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Tactical Missile Corporation in Moscow Oblast and called on the plant to double production even after announcing that the plant had met the requirements of the state defence order.

Putin also announced that the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade has prepared a list of unspecified specialities to defer from military service, which may suggest that the Kremlin is prioritizing using skilled workers in the production of Russian weapons over having skilled soldiers fight in Russia’s military.

Russian news outlets Interfax and RBK, the latter citing a Russian federal official, reported that the Russian Ministry of Finance is also considering issuing war bonds.

The United Kingdom Ministry of Defense (UK MoD) assessed that Putin’s March 3 presidential decree on government oversight of the DIB sets conditions for the Russian Ministry of Trade and Industry to bypass DIB managers at enterprises that fail to meet Russia’s production standards.

The Ukrainian Foreign Intelligence Service reported that Russian defence enterprises significantly decreased their hiring standards and now accept workers without experience and with histories of drug use, criminal records, and bankruptcy.

ISW has previously reported on Russia’s struggle to rejuvenate its DIB amid labour shortages and Western sanctions and its ensuing lack of success in this endeavour.

Key Takeaways

Prominent Russian military bloggers are reamplifying a longstanding Russian information operation that seeks to weaponize religion to discredit Ukraine.

Russian authorities continue measures to mobilize the struggling Russian defence industrial base (DIB) for a protracted war effort.

Russian Su-27 jets forced down a US MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Black Sea in international airspace.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki stated on March 14 that Poland could supply MiG-29 multirole fighters to Ukraine within four-to-six weeks.

Ukrainian sources reported that Russian forces continue building defences along Russia’s border with Ukraine in order to pin Ukrainian troops to northern border areas.

Russian forces conducted limited ground attacks northeast of Kupyansk and along the Svatove-Kreminna line.

Russian forces advanced within Bakhmut and continued ground attacks along the Avdiivka–Donetsk City frontline and in western Donetsk Oblast.

Russian forces continue fortifying rear areas in Russian-occupied Zaporizhya Oblast.

United Russia Secretary Andrey Turchak announced on March 14 that the Russian State Duma will consider a law simplifying the legal recognition of missing Russian soldiers as dead.

Ukrainian partisans injured the Deputy Head of the Nova Kakhovka Occupation Military Administration in an improvised explosive device (IED) attack.