Vladimir Putin’s announcement of a partial mobilisation follows Russia’s strategic and operational failures in Ukraine. It also confirms the Kremlin’s inability to think outside the box of its old doctrine. Moscow’s response remains the same as before – to overwhelm the enemy by sending in a bigger army.

Ukraine’s recent military successes in retaking large territories in the northeast (especially in the Kharkiv region) have been presented in the media as an “unexpected” development. Russian forces were probably “taken by surprise” at the beginning of September when the counteroffensive started. But Kyiv’s success was neither surprising, nor unforeseen.

A number of factors have been offered to explain Ukraine’s success on the battlefield, ranging from Russia’s corrupt armed forces, to Ukraine’s higher morale and fighting spirit, to the supply of weapons and intelligence by the west. And these are certainly part of the equation. But two other interrelated factors are often forgotten: Ukraine’s agile thinking and Russia’s continental mindset.

Russia’s continental mindset

Russia epitomises a continental strategic mindset that has demonstrated its limitations. A brief explanation: continental powers such as Russia and China traditionally command large land masses, which give them strategic depth – a large distance between any threat and the heart of a country’s power base (in Russia’s case, Moscow).

But it also means they become obsessed with perceived threats on their borders. So they focus their strategy rigidly towards defending those land borders and, as we have seen with Putin’s war in Ukraine, increasing strategic depth as much as possible.

Continental powers are also usually overconfident in the quantity of troops and weapons over their quality. Weaponry and manpower becomes more important than doctrinal flexibility and they are consequently less able to adapt to changing circumstances.

They have a tendency to misinterpret the qualitative strengths of their opponents (such as soldiers’ morale). And – importantly – they exhibit a lack of consideration for the maritime domain and the global supply chain.

Read more: https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-mobilisation-and-forced-conscription-shows-the-failure-of-russias-inflexible-continental-mindset-191085