According to a study by the Swedish Institute of Defense Studies (FOI), conducted at the request of the Swedish Ministry of Defense, the Russian military is increasingly preparing to wage a full-scale war.
The study was conducted on the basis of data from open sources of the Russian Ministry of Defense. Experts from Sweden have studied Russian strategic military exercises over the past few years. They concluded that the exercises have become more ambitious, and, starting from 2013, Russia has been supervising the combat readiness of troops and their ability to mobilize quickly at the highest state level, including the participation of Vladimir Putin.
According to the report, earlier Russia paid more attention to resolving local conflicts, but now strategic exercises are more ambitious, the army is being taught “to wage war on the greater part of the continent”.
“Russia is preparing to wage wars that are stretched in time against likely opponents of the size of China or NATO,” says the report of the opinion of study leader Juhan Nurberg.
