Russia's Missile Problems Suggest Further Issues?

However, the Kremlin-controlled media did not trumpet its success, and Digalo's announcement was not substantiated by any higher-ranking source. Digalo is an official spokesman for the navy, but has record is questionable. He was in this post in August 2000, when the Kursk nuclear sub sank in the Barents Sea after an explosion. At the time Digalo insisted that the Navy was “in contact with the crew of the sunken Kursk,” which was not true (RIA-Novosti, August 14, 2000).

Digalo may have returned to his old ways. Last week it became obvious that the latest Bulava launch was not as successful as he had claimed. Two of the missile's dummy warheads went seriously off target and a third was entirely lost when it did not manage to reach Kamchatka (Nezavisimoe voennoe obozrenie, July 20).

Most of the Russian public is today force-fed Kremlin propaganda about events inside Russia or abroad. But is the military actually misleading the Kremlin on this matter?

The main designer of the Bulava, Yuri Solomonov, has in the past attributed the multiple mishaps of test-launches to the progressive degradation of the Russian defense industry, the inferior quality of Russian-made components and materials, and the “loss” of key military technology (VPK, April 4). This apparently unstoppable degradation means that in the coming years Russia will be unable to arm its forces with modern weapons. Russian arms exports are also affected. Alexander Brindikov, deputy chief of the Russian arms trade monopoly Rosoboronexport, explains: “We are encountering colossal problems fulfilling existing export contracts and are withholding from signing some new ones, because we cannot figure how they may be fulfilled” because of the degradation of the Russian defense industry (VPK, March 21).

In the future Russia maybe forced to begin procuring Western (i.e., U.S.) arms and defense know how, or its forces will have no new weapons -- and perhaps none at all. Why would Putin pick fights with the West on any possible issue when it is becoming obvious that Russia is becoming dependent on Western aid and good will? Perhaps Putin’s actions are not foolish, but the product of deliberate misinformation about the true state of the Russian military and defense industry.

The whole situation is rather odd. The defense business is in a bad state. The problems with the new weapon systems are well known. Somehow I don't think the military is out to deceive Putin et al. it could be there's just a whacko putting out disinformation.

However, Putin's behavior is just plain odd.