Photos of me being hooah: instagram.com/cappyarmy/ Tweets about being hooah: twitter.com/Cappyarmy

something that is much more staggering than the actually 15-30% taken off the top is the fact that a LOT of Russian equipment is aging and requires the scheduled maintenance. If funds are redirected that need to go towards fixing up a 40 year old tank then that tank essentially becomes a piece of garbage... so now it's not 50k USD that is stolen, it also amounts to a 5 million dollar tank being rendered useless due to it's redirection of required maintenance funds.

Perun did an awesome (as usual) presentation on this. What I love about his video is the way that he explains how a 20% skim is so much more than a 20% impact. Selling $500 worth of fuel could leave a $5M piece of equipment stranded in a field in Ukraine, waiting to be pulled away by a farmer with a tractor. That goes for fuel, cheap Chinese tires, you name it. It goes from General Kleptokrovich to Private Konscriptovich

A former Russian military soldier once told me back in 2012 that "Everything in Russia a bribe!"

I think the best explanation for why this corruption was allowed to carry on right up until the eve of war is simple enough - the vast majority of Russian forces didn’t know the war was going to happen until the very last second. Corruption carried on because it’s business as usual, and by the time the chiefs of staff realised that Putin was actually serious about trying to conquer all of Ukraine - it was already too late.

Corruption is a long standing "tradition" in Russia. It was a well documented pattern in the Soviet Union and the Russian Empire before that. The Soviet pilot that flew the Mig-25 to Japan assumed that you could pay "traffic fines" here in the US just by paying the officer that stopped you. He was bailed out of trouble by his handler who was trying to get him acculturated to US ways.

My uncle served as an ifv gunner in 2014-2020, he was paid a good salary, but he spent about half on keeping the combat vehicle in proper condition (yes, it will turn out to be crazy that a soldier pays for his equipment). Also, the entire personnel paid the officers to falsify the standards and the soldiers were paid bonuses (for physical training, additional courses for paratroopers, sappers, etc.). The scheme was something like this: You pay 2,000 rubles to an officer, and 3,000 rubles are added to your salary. The worst case that he told me happened to his fellow soldiers during the exercises. At night, one sentry is always left to guard the property. So, officers from a neighboring unit bribed one such guy and removed the batteries from the armored personnel carrier, and in the morning they came and said that they had been stolen through the fault of the platoon. They demanded about 50k and the guys had to chip in for it, then they brought the stolen batteries and put them in their place. I hope Google translated what I wrote clearly enough

1 million subs are around the corner for this channel and that's just the beginning. Unbelievably great content. This is information so well gathered and explained. Awesome work!

It was my first impression when in the first days of invasion the 40 km queues of tanks were stucked in the streets over days that the amount of the needed fuel was not existing in the stores. The army was just not ready to march and the personnel was overwhelmed by this decision.

"Steal anything not nailed down, Anything I can pry up is not nailed down" - Russian military proverb

Another shocker was literally thousands of reserve tanks having the electronics stripped out for the gold and copper. It led to a commander committing suicide after losing all his armour in Ukraine.

mad respect man, i notice that u are very specific when u believed something incorrect, saying "yeah i was wrong this was right" in like a totally matter-of-fact way, that sort of attitude will get you far man. Taking responsibility, not just fessing up to mistakes, but openly aknowledging them, it's a good way to live

This was a great breakdown of just how deep the corruption ran and destroyed the military from the inside. Thank you!

This isn't a problem faced just by Russia, it is a culture remnant of the USSR, and a rampant issue in most post-Soviet countries.

The funny thing is that here in Latin America, we have so many so-called "youtube channels" of "truth", pricing, and idolizing Putin. Still, when confronted with information like this, they just go insane over anyone exposing the Russian corruption. Keep up the good work pal. Cheers from Latin America.

Remember a few years back when a bunch of USMC marked KAC 600m rear sights showed up on eBay for $35? Literally everyone I know was like "I don't know about this, man, seems sketchy.". This is really indicative of the kind of baseline aversion to corruption that exists in "the west". BTW that was the best $35 that I ever spent on eBay, lol.

Wow. Thanks for serving our country. Glad we pulled out. Great video, too! :D

Old story. I had a buddy who opened wholesale drug business for a Fortune 500 firm after the USSR fell on it's ass. They persisted for several years but finally pulled out as the Russian Organized crime system was the most efficient means of distributing stuff, and they charged less payoff than the government crooks did to get stuff done. The company was not willing to explicitly deal with the criminal organization, and the govt people were too expensive to buy off. They folded up and left the country.

I'm from lithuania and grew up right after the fall of the soviet union. I've seen the change and I've heard stories (and witnessed some of them myself). Corruption was a very normal part of life. Most people working for the government would siphon off whatever they could - would it be bricks, money, tools, materials or anything else. It was normal. Your car needs a roadworthiness test? Well, just pay for it directly to the person doing the test. It will be a bit more expensive, but usually not that much. Cops stopped you for speeding? Just pay it off. I myself had done it a few times as it was ... normal. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. There's still corruption everywhere in the world, but the way it was looked at in the USSR and is still looked at in many easter block countries is very different... Everyone's trying to rip their country off while still pretending to be huge patriots. It's disgusting.

This was really good, mate. Very well done!

I talked to several former Russian soldiers who now live over here and work as technicians. The things that they told me of changing test results for tanks and vehicles ( trucks ) was unbelieveable. The Army actually purchased several models of U.S. and British commercial trucks through a third party and tore them down to test and then copy in order to make a decent vehicle. They were issued flashlights without batteries and then have to buy them with their money. Clothing when damaged in battle is not replaced, parts, fuel, food, and sometimes amo such as grenades, explosives, etc....not available. They were told that until new stuff arrived don't cause a battle. These are things that any infantryman should have. He fought in the Afgan War and it looks as if things are not better. New truck tires are swapped out for bad ones on a dump and then locked away as new. The new ones are sold off to a commercial buyer.His commander was selling off fuel, blankets or clothing he ordered for the 48 new ghost solders he never had. The Russians used to call us capitalist pigs for our profit making ways...I guess they don't consider stealing and selling off the stuff for money being a capitalist.

Hi mate, fantastic to see you cover this topic. Corruption in militaries isn't the most discussed topic - but the impact on capability and readiness is significant. If you ever decide to come back to the topic or anything like it, feel free to get in touch - I have a decent stock of documents and stories that I gathered when preparing my look at the topic that I couldn't cover, even in a 60 minute time. Ditto if you ever want to look at at another nation or get a procurement/industry centric view on the issue.

Recall an interview with a retired US Procurement auditor that specialized in heavy duty truck tires. It was shocking to see him explain why Russian BTR-60 and 80 had high rates of tire failure due to lack of proper maintenance and replacement when they aged out.

Excellent production, thank you Cheers Brian

Just found this channel, seems to be well researched and certainly presented and kinda funny too, great work 👍

I am from Russia and this is first good video I've seen on our corruption by a western UKpostsr/ex-military guy. Thanks for your effort to deliver us a good content

I once worked in an industry that tried to establish itself in Russia a few years after the fall of the USSR and the end of the Cold War. The initial idea was that the very capable manufacturing facilities and skilled labor force in the country - the very same that designed and produced some truly outstanding products for aerospace and military use - could be easily turned around to make high-quality goods for consumers in the US and other Western countries, much better than the same that were being made in Taiwan and China. For example, imagine a road-racing bicycle, made in Russia out of near-aerospace grade carbon fiber and titanium, for little more than the best that could ever come out of the bike factories in Taichung and Shenzhou. On paper it was a win-win-win for everybody. The reality was that the corruption in Russia was so bad - in the government, the factories, and the different mafias - the smart companies cut their losses and got out of the country as fast as they could. Those who were unlucky or too stupid to pull out in time lost their shirts - not only over there but also here in the US as well. It was a sad case of "what could've been" that really went off the rails. If World War III ever happens, I seriously doubt that even half of Russia's nukes and supporting infrastructure will leave their launch tubes or even function as expected. Not like that would be a bad thing. That's probably the only upside to Russia's systemic corruption that I wouldn't argue about.

As always , well researched and presented. Well done mate!

Friggin LOVE your videos. Humor with information and sounds like, good research. 👍

I can attest to my own role in Iraq in terms of handing out bags of cash. No doubt 75% of the cash was stolen after I distributed it to all these "small business owners." However, the major difference between a Western NATO army and the Russians is that I had to account for every single dollar of the micro-grant fund. And I mean literal bricks of brand new, straight from the US Treasury, American $50 dollar bills (even NATO partners used dollars as it is the proper currency used anywhere, Iraqis won't take Kronor!). There was no way any of us could steal even a tiny amount. I recall one American officer tried by faking the micro grants, and because he was attached to a US Army ODA team he had less oversight, but he was caught when he tried to bring the money back and spent five years in prison. In the Russian Army, the $500K in micro-grants at the Corps level would have turned into $250K at division, and then $100K by the time it got to brigade, and $75K by the time it came to the battalions.

Even if you think, "But they still used 67% on military!", the problem is the fact that the corruption hits the essentials like fuel, and ammonition, and small spare parts, and rations ... so it doesn't matter that the Russian military got the tanks, the cruisers, and the missiles. The tanks, even the most expensive ones, are useless without ammo, fuel, and personel.

Thank you for your comprehensive , accurate , and detailed analysis. It was vary informative.

Excellent report, Cappy. Thank you.

I remember when we first got the Kevlar helmet, the civilians that made them cut corners, but the convicts that made them in prison were the only ones that didn’t screw their own service members.

"i'm going to be the first non-corrupt russian officer! i'll do everything as efficiently as possible!" "you're fired, i don't trust you" "aww"

I love the presentation. Like, you're doing the IASIP Charly Day character: overworked, underpaid, investigator, who is crazy, because crazy is what this case needs, damn it! and it freaking works.

Excellent report! Thank you, Chris. Slava Ukraine 🇺🇸🔔🇺🇦💪

To me, corruption will always amount to high treason. The societal cost of it is obscene and it says a lot about the character of a person, who engages in it.

It's also important to understand how corruption influences the military culture in Russia. When everyone is corrupt, and everyone *knows* that everyone is corrupt, being honest just makes you a sucker. But that means there's a fundamental distrust built into the culture, because anyone can turn in anyone else at any time. Every fellow soldier is both a potential co-conspirator and a potential snitch, and there's always a potential benefit for them to screw you over if things go bad for them (and vice versa). While that's not the worst thing in a criminal enterprise, it's a pretty bad attitude to have if you're marching alongside those people in a military campaign, where you count on your fellow soldiers to help you survive. The result is that most Russian soldiers have a pretty garbage attitude when it comes to their jobs, towards their leadership, and even towards their brothers and sisters in arms. They can't count on each other to do their jobs, so there's a strong sense that everyone is on their own. This is why their rate of defection is so high: they haven't been taught the value of loyalty, so they have no problem turning on their former comrades if it will save their own skin. After all, its what their commanding officers would probably do in their position.

I can't believe you went through all that work to connect the dots! I can't believe that I listened to the whole explanation! And it looks like you enjoyed telling us about it. Me.... I have a headache! Have a nice day.

Your channel just keeps getting better and better.

A quick look at the orlan10 drone shows all you need to know about corruption. As a US civilian I could make such a craft, buying off the shelf parts for $5k or less. The Russian military is being billed $100k a unit. That's not a 20% loss due to corruption its 95%

In Imperial Rome they frequently had problems with paymasters skimming from soldier's pay and quartermasters adding dirt and rocks to wheat rations to skim from the money allocated for that. Keeping the corruption from getting out of hand was a full time job.

Your stuff is too good, man keep up the good work!! 👍👍 OBTW - Subscribed! 👌

A Russian soldier is walking down the road with one shoe on when his army buddies drive up to him and ask if he lost a shoe? The Russian replied Nyet! I found a shoe.

Now i wouldn’t say “shocking”..

Can we give Cappy some credit on that AWESOME Russian accent

Give your editor a raise! This was fantastic lol

Yes this been going on for years & Years 👍

This reminds me of a story from the 80's. When Soviet Union economy went belly up, the CIA was really surprised. After all they had a really, really good source for economic intelligence that gave them all the actual economical information. How did they know it was actual? Because it was the same information that was given to the Soviet politbyro, the one that actually ran the USSR. So why was the CIA caught of guard by the Soviet economic collapse? Because people in USSR were lying to their own leaders about how bad the economic situation was (because there was, and probably is, a tradition of shooting the messenger in Russia), and those lies were then leaked to CIA as the absolute truth. That might be what's happened to Putin, and the Western intelligence services.

Perun did great video about exactly this. Highly recommend.

Excelled presentation. Keep up the good work !!!

Corruption IS treason at all levels and must be prosecuted as such

The Russian's sold their night vision sensors (tubes) around the world for cheap. So the world market place soaked up the production the tubes that were suppose to go to the Russian's troops.

Perun did a pretty awesome video going in depth into how corruption rots everything from within, not that long ago. Anyone watching this might want to also check that out.

Great research and very accurate!

An excellent presentation, thank you. In watching I remembered when Putin asked each of his advisors if he should invade Ukraine. It was the video of him giving the security chief a tongue lashing. I remember how they all looked so pissed off, so dejected and I thought it was due to them being against a war but unable to say it. That's wrong, the reason they looked so pissed was because they were thinking... "Fck, he's going to find out, he's going to watch his army march into battle with no useful fking equipment because we've spent it all"..

Exactly the same for CCP armed forces. In 2011 I went to a PLA regimental commander's home. They showed me some of the nicest ivory sculptures. I am very happy how corrupt this system is.

The "corruption" money going to local governments and tribes to make peace with them isn't actually stealing money from the U.S. citizens for selfish purposes, but effectively using it towards strategic goals, which is the opposite of the Russian corruption where much higher percentage is taken for personal gain while damaging Russia's tactical maintenance and progress.

Hats off to you ,Sir . You have mangled Slavonic so inventively , so smoothly, that I couldn’t pass the opportunity to commend you for…..something or other…

Thanks Chris!

The thing with Shoigu's predecessor, Serdyukov, might be a bit more interesting than a fleeting mention in the vid. Some insiders tell while the guy wasn't perfect, he at least tried to tame/mitigate corruption related to military industry, and that might have resulted in a big embarrassment. So, it's not that he got fired because Shoigu desperately needed a minister seat (he was a minister of emergencies for a long time - yes, Russia handles disaster on a ministry level rather than via government agency use), but because Serdyukov tried to do his job for once.

The editing and humor of this dude's vids is epic.

Awesome video, great production!

Good vidz keep em rolling

Great job & very commendable you even noted experiences of corruption in your own forces. Seems a pretty clear lesson for every other country- if you don’t appoint on merit & don’t support real consequences when corruption is exposed...youre on a fast track to a wasteful, low-morale, incapable military

We have a retired cousin who worked in Internal Affairs of the St. Petersburg Police. She said corruption is so there is no way to stop it. That said, a Road Policeman in Spb isn't considered successful if he doesn't have two apartments and a nice car. These guys are at the bottom of the food chain.

Fantastic report!! I laughed, I clapped, I (half) gasped... 🤣 If you pitched this crap as a movie or mini series they'd say: too unbelievable!! Confirmation of what many have long suspected yet wouldn't detangle.. Thank you for your service & super insightful, multi-level, concise, still lighthearted report. I do appreciate info extra when interpreted by ppl w/some real understanding AND leave out political crap spins! Unheard of. 🤯

Brilliant analysis.

Fun fact: this winter, right before the beginning of SMO, there were mass sellings of fresh army MRE (with marking "not for sale") in low-cost supermarket near my home in Saint-Petersburg. It seems to me that russian generals remember the bible story about hungry man and fish and they say: you dont't need food supply when you've got a rifle.

"We could share this flashlight, that could work" I laughed my ass off over that one. Good one Cappy!!

Great vise. Thank you!

Very interesting,thank you.

I know a Russian person, and she was telling me how even teachers will request bribes. It’s part of the culture….

As an citizen of an ex soviet occupied country I can tell you that corruption in russia is not something that started with the fall of soviet union, it has been always their way of life, even during tsarist times when goverment positions were bought. Its their way of life and they dont know anything else.

Me clicking on the video :How bad could it be?

First time watching love what your doing. Watching in Australia

Way way back in the 60's I heard of Russian ground crews and pilots falsifying deicing fluid for their aircraft because the 'fluid' is untainted, 100% grain alcohol, and we all know what happens to grain alcohol anywhere.

bro, you have to see the armed forces here in Brazil, we bought griphens fighter jets and they cost more per unit than the f-35s. the Brazilian tax payer is very angry with the delay from SAAB, they are delaying delivery all the time, and not to mention that the two-seat version will no longer be manufactured here. everyone is angry here

This is a fantastic video Thank you

russian here first - this is incredibly based, Chris, u hit a nail on the head with this. dangerously rare unbiased analysis, super refreshing, thanks. second- you've completely and totally butchered most of the mentioned names lol third - military corruption is only a tip of the iceberg. unless you're willing to waste a shitload of time and effort you will inevitably end up participating to get some basic shit done - like getting a DL, being stopped by a traffic cop or getting adequate medical care. I've dealt with some this shit in my 20s, and it's in one of the biggest cities who have this shit comparably under control. once you leave big cities it's a fucking free for all. if you want to find even more blatant corruption you better look at the regions. a lot of really shady shit is popping up recently regarding to enlistment and payments to the families of injured and deceased. fun bonus! - might wanna look up Sergei Furgal. mayor who actually wanted to work and managed to get into the office, made improvements to the city and then was promptly removed on bogus criminal charges. reason - he was not corrupt ENOUGH. looked too good. most of this is not military-related, just wanted to comment on the nature of corruption here. also - Prigozhin has a nickname "Putin's chef". and yeah, he kinda literally was. His chef and his ex-security guard are now in the government. mr prez really is shitting gold it seems.

It sounds like you're saying corruption in the Russian military is a modular, multi-role, force de-multiplier. 😆🤷‍♂️

" Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth"

Wow you're good I didn't know the corruption was so rampant! Can you do a piece on Washington DC next?

Imagine a world where corrupt officials and politicians get to fight for table scraps on the Alaskan island chain.

Russian corruption goes back to mongolian times or maybe even further than that. It's a national idea, widely accepted on every level. Basically, it's a part of mentality and you'll have to fight it because you'll be exposed to it during your upbringing by your parents and peers. The idea that you can "take a little here and there" and no one will notice is a russian norm.

Absolute corruption corrupts absolutely.

Here in the U.S.A, industries can legally vastly overcharge the government after some lobbying, campaign donations and expensive "business trips". The world has much to learn.

One pro-corrption quote: "Would you rather live in a country where your husband can be arrested at middle of the night, or in a country where you your husband gets arrested, but in just three hours you can save him by just paying some money?"

Task and purpose- Bringing the term "butchering the names" to a whole new level

The reason why you cycle out your politicians on a constant basis is to avoid, or at the very least lessen, problems like these. Something Russia has failed to do since Pootisman has been President for over two decades now.

You missed the history of it all. In the soviet era, higher military ranks were supposed to be modestly compensated, so there was an understanding that those higher ranks would.....supplement. When the UUSR dissolved, the only thing which changed, was that virtually all accountability was removed. It then went from systemic and limited, to the cultural norm.

Outside of completely butchering the pronunciation of all Russian last names, your videos are amazing! No BS, no agenda, straight facts. That's why you get so many clicks and reviews, very much deserved!

Man s this a well documented well informed video , I have been informed , thank U .

Funny and informativ aswell. Thanks!

The concept of 'endless lies' is basically a modern equivalent of 'Vietnam Syndrome' which hindered the US and their allies during that conflict because the same thing happened then to such an extent that strategists made flawed decisions predicated on misleading data. Nobody, wanted anything, to reflect badly on them particularly the 'lifers' and this condensed an erroneous process to such an extent that contributors to crucial decision making processes 'viewed the situation through rose tinted glasses' as an old saying goes. (presumably the glasses were consistently full of hard liquor) This in turn led to situations where personnel were committed to operations where they were sent out on patrol and 'walked into the ground' with a minimum of sleep while their uniforms rotted off their bodies. Yet despite this officers and senior NCO's benefited from the privilege of rank with full nights rest due to security provided by exhausted troops and on more than one occasion entire patrols were wiped out because exhausted sentries fell asleep on watch. As if that were not a complete disgrace while the troops made do with rags far too many administrative REMF'S had fresh uniforms for every day of the week and lied like politicians about their roles and contributions to folks back home and may still be doing so. A process of interpolation only really achievable by reading accounts by combat Veteran's in various autobiographies, seems to be the best method for establishing this because their accounts seem to consistently agree to an almost universal extent.

Lmao the title made me chuckle, the intro made me laugh, then I learned happily for 20 min. Mission accomplished. Absolutely excellent video

This blockbuster movie gets my OSCAR for editorial content, a cracking good story line, special effects, animation, creativity. Spielberg take note.

And The Beat Goes On….

The last line in your video about the TV "you can watch it but don't turn it on" brought back memories of my time in the US Army in 1968. The Company Sargent banded newspapers in the Company area as he thought they were litter. I explained that Freedom of Press is a very big deal in our Democracy. His reply was "Freedom of Press is the right to print newspapers, not to read them" From then on, I spent my lunch time standing in th CO's office reading the paper. All the fools are not in Russia