Russia’s military failures ‘masked by information warfare’

During a Defence Committee session on the 1,000-day mark of the Ukraine conflict, experts dissected Russia’s ongoing failures on the battlefield while cautioning against the Kremlin’s continued success in information operations.

Air Marshal Edward Stringer (Ret’d) delivered stark insights into the myths surrounding Russian military power and urged a recalibration of the UK’s national security strategy.

Air Marshal Stringer was unequivocal about Russia’s military performance, describing it as “abysmal.” While the conflict has revealed significant weaknesses in Russia’s armed forces, its success lies in convincing Western nations of untapped power reserves.

“Its real triumph in information operations has been suggesting that there are some great hidden depths—that there is a whole Red Army left untapped that could be unleashed and it has these great powers,” he stated.

He criticised the influence of this perception on Western governments and electorates: “We have ourselves been deterred. I do not like this self-deterrence phrase. You are either influenced or not, and we have been influenced.”

Stringer also highlighted how Russia’s ability to perpetuate this narrative overshadows its glaring military shortcomings. “We should start to question this myth,” he asserted, pointing to its operations in Ukraine and beyond as evidence of a hollowed-out force.

The Air Marshal proposed a systematic reassessment of Russia’s actual capabilities, alongside a shift in how the UK approaches national security. Comparing the current situation to the rise of terrorism two decades ago, he praised the UK’s robust response during that period.

“We responded very well in this country. OSCT, out of the Home Office, pulled together Government Departments. We have a very robust way of countering international and national terrorism. We need to do the same now.”

He warned that critical national infrastructure remains vulnerable to cyberattacks, urging a coordinated, cross-government approach to prevent catastrophic disruptions. “We need to look at what our critical national infrastructure is before cyber-attacks take down our railway system or something like that,” he said.

Stringer pushed the importance of the forthcoming Strategic Defence Review (SDR) as a pivotal moment for the UK to reassess its priorities.

“It is a strategic defence review, not a defence and security review. It will be interesting to see the boundaries of that, where their thoughts are, and how they might get us back into where we were when we used to think about the great power threat being the real national security threat,” he explained.

He called for a return to preparedness reminiscent of Cold War-era mobilisation. “We used to produce the war book, have alert measures and be able to mobilise the country in its own defence. We have to get back into that way of thinking,” he said, describing the current moment as a “clear and present danger.”