ISW: Russian military command convicts officers in effort to improve discipline across army

The Russian military command continues to convict Russian officers in cases associated with Ukrainian strikes as part of a likely effort to improve discipline across the Russian military. 

It follows from the conclusions of the analysts of the US think tank the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) published as part of a daily update on the Russian military campaign, Caliber.Az reports.

Moscow’s Second Western District Military Court sentenced the former head of Rosgvardia’s maritime department, Colonel Sergei Volkov, to six years in prison on January 16 for allegedly supplying low-quality radar systems to protect the Kerch Strait Bridge in occupied Crimea and a gas pipeline from Krasnodar Krai to occupied Crimea from Ukrainian drone strikes.

The court found Volkov guilty of “abuse of office with grave consequences” for his participation in a 400 million ruble ($4.5 million) corruption scheme involving the acquisition of two radar systems that Volkov reportedly knew could not properly defend against Ukrainian drones.

The Second Western District Military Court convicted two Russian air defence officers on December 6, 2023, for negligence in failing to prevent a Ukrainian strike on Russian territory.

Russian authorities also previously detained the commander of the 1st Special Purpose Air and Missile defence Army on corruption and bribery charges, likely for failing to prevent drone strikes against Moscow City in July and August 2023.

The Russian military command likely intends to set a precedent across the Russian military concerning possible punishment for failures to defend against Ukrainian strikes — particularly strikes against high-value targets — regardless of whether the cases explicitly allege that these officers violated Russian rules of combat duty or tangentially associate the officers’ dereliction of duties with corruption schemes.

The Russian command likely hopes that these precedents will improve discipline writ large among Russian forces in Ukraine, although ISW has not observed such an effect.