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Thanks for posting the link : )

So many layers to this problem.

Watched a documentary on Chechnya...the emphasis was on Russian troop morale..and crime.

so ya...everything from soldiers stealing AK-47's and gasoline for their own fiscal return...to Officers moving large shipments with support net at higher military levels..allong with connection to regional gov and Gangster types.

toss in all manner of other Blackmarket activity...from drugs to prostituki.

Chechnya is a living hell....Russian teens do whatever they can to avoid conscription.
and ya..their families throw in too.
hide the kid in the Urals at the uncles cabin.
Russian gov agents run around with photos trying to catch up with them.

The Russian miltary system has a history of abuse.....some here at Fr are aware of it.
The young Russian soldier exists in a world where he is prey to abuse of all kinds.
as his time served evolves..he becomes a *Grandfather..where he changes places..and becomes the one dispensing abuse to the new soldiers.

Once the soldier is in an environment like Chechnya...its easy to see why they fall prey to Officer extortion in the fieled..regional gangsters etc.

so ya..its a big mess,
Putin will make many enemies if he tries to stop it.
Putin being a realist is unlikely to stop it....just manage it.

Russia has to face Islamic terror...
and misery.... of their own making.