Russia is stopping its own senior officials from resigning to avoid “any impression of defeatism,” according to UK intelligence.
In its Thursday update, the Ministry of Defence claimed that those in authoritative roles such as regional leaders, security officials and members of the presidential administration, were likely to be stuck in their jobs for as long as the war continues.
The MoD claimed: “In private, many officials are likely highly sceptical about the war, as well as often experiencing work stress within the dysfunctional wartime apparatus.
“The ban is likely enforced with strong hints that resignees will face trumped up criminal charges.”
Known only as the ‘Special Military Operation’ in Russia, Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine has now dragged on for almost 15 months.
The Kremlin initially expected Kyiv to fall within a matter of days, according to previous reports.
Western intelligence has repeatedly suggested that Russian forces are now struggling with low morale, poor equipment and soaring casualties.
And, according to the MoD, resignations might just worsen the atmosphere among troops.
The UK officials claimed: “As well as being concerned about capability gaps resignees would leave, the authorities are likely also attempting to prevent any impression of defeatism, and to bolster a sense of collective responsibility.”
UK intelligence has previously suggested that thousands of Russian casualties in Ukraine are connected to alcohol consumption by troops.
Since the invasion began, Moscow is said to have suffered up to 200,000 casualties – and “a significant minority of these have been due to non-combat causes”, according to the MoD back in April.
It also claimed: “Other leading causes of non-combat casualties likely include poor weapon handing drills, road traffic accidents and climatic injuries such as hypothermia.”
Moscow ordered a partial mobilisation of reservists back in September, and there was significant pushback at the time and large scale protests.
To avoid triggering the same backlash, Russian Defence Ministry is said to have worked on recruiting more prisoners to its army ranks too, with up to 10,000 convicts signing up in April.