Russian soldiers in Chechnya

Yet another whistleblower is coming forward to complain about conditions inside Russia’s military. Many stories have emerged over the years detailing the horrible conditions Russian soldiers must live under. Russia’s military is a shadow of what it once was. Alcoholism and corruption are widespread as are breakdowns in discipline. Dozens of soldiers die every year at the hands of other soldiers in horrific hazing incidents. Newly enlisted soldiers often have to pay protection money to keep from being killed by their fellow soldiers.

The latest allegations to surface are that Russian soldiers were fed dog food to save money.

Russian Interior Ministry troops were fed dog food earlier this year to save money, a former officer in the ministry said on Thursday.

A rare whistleblower in Russia’s expansive security forces, ex-Major Igor Matveyev said officers tried to cover up the scandal and other alleged wrongdoing at the Interior Ministry troops base where he served in the far east city of Vladivostok.

“It’s embarrassing to say but soldiers here were fed dog food. It was fed to them as stew,” Matveyev said in an interview with Reuters, adding that dog food labels were covered up with labels reading ‘premium quality beef’.

As usual, nothing is likely to come of this. Corruption is a way of life in Russia. Whoever is charged with investigating this incident will probably be paid to say it didn’t happen and life will go on. Russia likes to create the illusion that its a powerful nation, but it’s not. Corruption is destroying the country from within. Bribes must be paid to do anything in Russia. They lack an independent judiciary. Their military is in tatters. The only real power they have is in oil and natural gas which they use as a political weapon to get what they want.