A Russian military official has published an unvarnished account of how Moscow’s armed forces “inflate” the amount of equipment they allegedly destroy during hostilities, explaining that the often phantasmagoric figures presented by the defense ministry have at least two reasons.

“You can know for sure when you hit a decoy and not an enemy car, you can suspect it, but if overall the decoy is good and helps you report, then you hit it and report success to management. Any Soviet officer (whom today many kiss in the chest) would have done exactly the same,” wrote the officer under the pseudonym “Colonel Shuvalov” in his Telegram channel.

His message was translated Dmytro, founder of the well-known website War Translated.

Further, “Colonel Shuvalov” explains that “the army is simple”:

“Because your report on hitting a target (especially a “fat one”) is a joy for you, and the authorities, and the authorities. But if you say “everything is free” and write a boring report that “the detected target turned out to be a fake and it seemed impractical to hit it due to the need to store high-precision ammunition”, then you will become a ** ** nar for both the authorities and other officers”.

The Russian officer goes on to claim that the Ukrainians also have this mentality problem, as they were also taught in Soviet military schools, but they would overcome it by leaving “target control” to their “Western experts”, which would eliminate the motivation to write false reports altogether.

The Russian military has reported the destruction of the same vehicle several times

“I will say something vile and unpopular now, but I want to hear that at least one active officer said that I am lying: before, but also after the appearance of Western military equipment. [pe front]a very popular way to give a positive result is to shoot beautifully at already destroyed enemy equipment,” he continues his story.

“Bradley, which was hit by an anti-tank gun yesterday, can be well hit by helicopters today, and can be hit by self-propelled howitzers tomorrow. With video materials, reports, all angles. So it’s not one, but three destroyed Bradleys,” explains “Colonel Shuvalov.”

“Since the political leadership requests very specific reports, the General Staff will also request such a report. And the military will solve the problem in the only way they know how – through the military,” he claims, also noting that this practice is “by no means exotic, but massive.”

A Russian officer says the situation needs an “external solution” because the army doesn’t even see it as a problem because “the military leadership lives in its own universe.”

“The military leadership requires the necessary reports from you, and if reality does not correspond to them, then these are the problems of reality. You are an officer, you can do it,” he concludes about making false reports.

He stated this a few days ago, before the Ministry of Defense of Russia published new phantasmagoric statistics on the number of destroyed Ukrainian equipment on Wednesday.

The Russian military receives money if it destroys military equipment

In June, a Russian pilot who fled to Lithuania because he no longer wanted to fight in the war also provided details about the Russian military’s reporting practices, but he also mentioned financial incentives given to soldiers who file false reports.

“Suppose there is a damaged tank. And more helicopters shoot at it multiple times, and the gunner confirms for a small amount each time that a new piece of equipment has been destroyed. And in fact, everyone is paid for one tank,” said a pilot with the rank of lieutenant of the Russian Air Force.

The officer said no Russian military believed the daily reports of Russian Defense Ministry spokesman General Igor Konashenkov.

In November 2022, the Ministry of Defense of Russia promised soldiers separate payments for the destroyed military equipment of the Ukrainian troops. The military receives 300,000 rubles (3,350 euros) for a destroyed plane, 200,000 rubles (2,235 euros) for a helicopter, and 100,000 rubles (1,115 euros) for a tank.

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