Antique artillery shells, a single wheezy aircraft carrier - and troops living on pig lard and grey bread... Nick Holdsworth goes on a Russian military exercise to find the truth behind Putin's sabre-rattling boasts: a broken army still battling out in the cold

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I still would not like to see a legion of them marching towards me...Russia usually wins through sheer numbers.

The report shows no indication that the Russians were in anyway incompetent or unable to overcome the limitations their dated equipment placed on them.
I think we have another reporter who's only impressed with new, flashy stuff and clean "left the factory yesterday" uniforms.
Considering the weather they had, any army would have been freezing their balls off.

Originally Posted by c/Commander

Russia usually wins through sheer numbers.

Somebody else wins while being outnumbered? In conventional warfare, of course?

Btw, the article contains some inaccuracies:

As we walk, observer Colonel Serkin questions a young Russian soldier about his use of an RPG. The weapon is a cheaply constructed steel and bakelite plastic tube that fires a 40mm shell. It has a maximum range of 500m, an effective range of 300m, and can punch a hole through two centimetres of armour-plated steel.

40mm shell is shrapnel shell. HEAT shell is 85mm overcaliber shell. And it certainly burns out much more than `2 centimetres` of armour-plated steel (about 30cm with aged grenade PG-7V, ~50cm with more modern PG-7VL, and ~60cm with newest tandem-action PG-7VR one).

"It's the best automatic in the world," says Kirill Manakov, 26, a First Lieutenant with the 138th Guards at Operation Snowflake, smiling as he is asked his opinion of the Kalashnikov AK-47.
"You can take it apart in 14 seconds and reassemble it in 17. It can be cleared in a second and it works everywhere – water, sand, dirt," he says.

Russian army does not use AK-47 any more for quite long time ago, current standard weapon is AK-74M...

And if there are units with them, they're unlikely to be ones training alongside Swedish soldiers. You're right. Should have seen that.

Originally Posted by the_13th_redneck

And if there are units with them, they're unlikely to be ones training alongside Swedish soldiers. You're right. Should have seen that.

Actually it is possible to see sometimes Russian soldier armed with 7,62mm AK (but it is AKM or AKMS, not AK-47), however under certain conditions:
1) It is in war zone (Caucasus);
2) Soldier belongs to some elite units (SpetsNaz), where sometimes professionals are free to choose weapons they like best or which fit better the current situation operation. Some operators choose AK of 7,62mm instead of standard 5,45mm for harder punch, increased bullet stability in bush and ability to use additional silencers on 7,62 caliber weapon (this feature is impossible with 5,45mm AK).

Anyway regular troops such as motor rifles, airborne and naval infantry are using standard 5,45mm AKs.

Cool. Thanks for the info!

Originally Posted by Supostat

Somebody else wins while being outnumbered? In conventional warfare, of course?

Israel quite regularly, the United States in several instances (early on)...there's a long list.

thanks.............