‘Extremely high’ number of Russian troop deaths in Ukraine war are linked to alcohol abuse, MoD says

The UK Ministry of Defence said an ‘extremely high’ number of Russian troop deaths as a part of the Ukraine war are linked to alcohol abuse.

Russian military forces are injuring themselves as a result of poor handling of weapons and heavy drinking, according to the ministry’s morning intelligence update.

Although Russia has suffered around 200,000 casualties since the beginning of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine over a year ago, the briefing said ‘a significant minority of these have been due to non-combat causes’.

A Russian Telegram news channel reported on March 28 that there have been ‘extremely high’ numbers of incidents, crimes, and deaths linked to alcohol consumption amongst the deployed Russian troops. 

Other likely causes of non-combat casualties included poor weapon handling drills, road traffic accidents and climatic injuries such as hypothermia

However, the MoD said that Russian commanders presumably identify pervasive alcohol abuse as particularly detrimental to combat effectiveness.

They added: ‘However, with heavy drinking pervasive across much of Russian society, it has long been seen as a tacitly accepted part of military life, even on combat operations.’

This follows recent reports that Vladimir Putin’s commanders are forcing his conscript soldiers at gunpoint to remain at the frontline using a brutal Stalin tactic.

Soldiers appealed to Putin hoping he will be shocked by their revelations – yet all the evidence is he approves of these ‘meat-grinder’ tactics. 

In a new video where Russian reservist draftees appealed directly to Vladimir Putin, the men said they are given a choice – stay in the frontline and have a slim chance of survival, or retreat and face a bullet in the head – from fellow Russians in Putin’s ‘retreat-blocking detachments’.

They said: ‘Retreat-blocking detachments were set up against us and they did not let us out of positions.’

According to the figures released by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine last month, the number of Russian losses in Vladimir Putin’s invasion surpassed 150,000.