When it comes to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Kuzhugetovich Shoigu, it is basically a scolding in 2022. Those who detractor him usually talk about the Russian army's crotch-pulling performance from the end of February to the beginning of October 2022, and they have to make a mockery of Shoigu's fact that he is not a professional soldier but a civil engineering contractor who fights ashes, and by the way, quotes Strelkov's squeaky words, and makes Shoigu a "plywood general" as a joke.
But up to now, Shoigu's reputation has been reversed in a straight line, and the "plywood general" who was once scolded by everyone is now also respected as "the gray immortal", "the holy body of civil engineering", and "five bricks and two ashes are not used up". And the reason for the sudden improvement in Shoigu's reputation is also very simple, you see that Russia's GDP is the same as that of Guangdong Province, as well as the pitiful military spending, he Shoigu can still maintain the world's largest nuclear arsenal, piggybacking on Russia to mobilize hundreds of thousands of troops to fight, there is no shortage of food and clothing for officers and soldiers, the defense line is enough for the Ukrainian army to return, and it has to set aside a surplus to play up and down, so that the country's ** and Qing officials are satisfied, and finally he also repaired a building for Mariupol, Who said that who can't respect him for three points?
Shoigu became Russia's defense minister in 2012, and the Russian army in front of him had been crushed. The Russian Navy has not had any new ships in 20 years, and at a glance the 2,200-ton 20380-class frigates have been removed, and all that remains is the broken ships of the former Soviet Union. As for the Russian Air Force and the Russian Aerospace Defense Force, it is also difficult to say a word, only 51 of the more than 1,200 fighters can be regarded as new fighters, and bombers and transport aircraft have long been out of production and need to be updated urgently. As for the army, it is also very difficult to say, 2,000 tanks, 4,000 infantry combat vehicles, and nearly 10,000 artillery pieces need to be replaced, not to mention that the combat effectiveness of the Russian army has also been ruined by Serdyukov's pasty operation.
Frankly speaking, Shoigu is facing a super mess, and it is estimated that anyone who comes up will be helpless, because the Russian economy is so bad that I am afraid that no one can save the situation when there is no money in the pocket. In 2012, it seemed that the Russian army was on the verge of collapse, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that it was dying, but the reality is that Shoigu successfully reversed the plight of the Russian army with the meager military spending in his hands.
In the ten years from 2012 to 2022, Russia built 5 new Boreas, 3 Yasen, not counting the bunch of frigates and auxiliary ships. As for the results of the Air Force, the Russian Aerospace Forces have produced 81 Su-35S fighters, 130 Su-30SM fighters, 118 Su-34 fighters, 41 MiG-29 fighters, SMT MiG-29UBT, Su-27SM3 and 24 MiG-29K after Shoigu took office, barely allowing the Russian Aerospace Forces to maintain the scale of modern fighters. The army is more stumbling, that is, 400 new tanks have been built, and 1,500 T-72B3 B3M and 200 T-80BVM have been upgraded by the way, which can be regarded as enriching the army.
It doesn't seem like much at first glance, right? Let's put it another way, Shoigu is in the case of military spending of 50 billion US dollars per year, and he still needs to serve a super nuclear arsenal of 6,000 nuclear bombs, and then in ten years he will produce 300,000 tons of sea ships and submarines, which is about the same level as a French navy. The 418 new fighters are equivalent to the combined British and French fighters, which are more than 392 fighters combined. As for the escalation of the army, not to mention, you tired the entire EU together and only rationed the shoes of Russia, and the tanks that Shoigu made were enough to reach seven and a half British Army.
Ask, how many defense ministers in the world today can do what Shoigu did? The answer is not much, because most countries' militaries have been shrinking for a decade. A typical example is a group of developed countries represented by Britain, France and the United States, these so-called developed countries have shown the world with practical actions what is called Wen Tian and what is called military waste, and the entire NATO is tired together and cannot meet Ukraine's material needs.
It should be pointed out that Shoigu's ability is not only in the production of armaments and the management of funds, although these two are enough to make him a master of management, but the ability to clean up the overall mess of the army highlights Shoigu's ability even more. When Shoigu came to power, the Russian army was not only in terms of equipment, but also in the system and personnel of the army. Serdyukov, the previous Minister of National Defense, was a bastard, not to mention the West's cheating of civilian administration of the army, and in disregard of the actual situation in Russia, he blindly changed divisions into brigades, and even laid off a large number of grassroots officers and non-commissioned officers, and even made a mess of the logistics department, threatening to rely on private enterprises to manage logistics. In short, the Russian army, under Serdyukov's pasty operation, is really just a shelf, and its combat effectiveness may not be as good as during the first Chechen war.
And what Shoigu will do when he comes to power is very clear, he must do everything in his power to restore the combat effectiveness of the Russian army during his tenure. The first thing he had to do was to stop Serdyukov's divisional transformation into a brigade, because the divisional transformation into a brigade itself is a worthless initiative, and the brigade-level units are just beautiful looking pies, which are not suitable for a large-scale war at all, which has been proven in the Russian-Ukrainian war. The second is that he needs to recall those officers and non-commissioned officers who have been laid off, an army cannot be combat-ready without a large number of experienced officers and non-commissioned officers, and Shoigu has recalled these people during his ten-year tenure in order to rebuild the combat effectiveness and organization of the Russian army.
The logistical aspect is more difficult, because Serdyukov completely cut down the automobile and pipeline soldiers, and the food is completely handed over to the private sector. The destructive power of this for an army is extraordinarily great, and Shoigu must try to reverse the situation. But unfortunately, this will inevitably lead to conflicts with various interest groups within Russia, so Shoigu did not make some eyebrows until the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2022, which is the main reason why the logistics system of the Russian army was in a mess at the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Fortunately, with the mobilization order after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, Shoigu has every reason to carry out more radical reforms, which is why the logistics system of the Russian army has increased significantly from October 2022 to 2023.
There are countless examples of this, for example, the monthly salary of the IDF's heavenly soldiers (big head soldiers) is only 1600 to 3000 NSHEs, and after the resumption of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, it will only be increased to 4000-5000 NSHEs, while the monthly salary of Russian soldiers on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield has been converted into NIS 9,000-10,000. In the Russian-Ukrainian war, the Russian army does not see a shortage of materials, and the monthly output of large-caliber artillery shells alone exceeds 2 million, not to mention the monthly production of drones such as Lancet cruise missiles that exceed 10,000. The pre-war dominance of hypersonic speeds, such as daggers, is better than no hypersonics, although the performance is average, and I think the United States should not object to this.
Coupled with the advent of the RS-24 intercontinental missile, Russia's land-based nuclear forces have been successfully upgraded. From the waste paper heap and ask the master to hand out the Tu-160 M and Il-76MD-90A (E), this is even more heavyweight operation. From time to time, you have to shoot a few satellites into the sky, although the performance is still average, at least Russia's GLONASS has a higher coverage rate than the EU's Galileo. Think about the Surovikin line, where Ukraine did not break through the first line of defense, and think about the ...... of MariupolWhat kind of Russian defense minister is this Surovikin**, this is clearly the contemporary Xiao He.
In fact, there is much more that Shoigu has done, and the above list is only a small part. The Russian army has gone through many years of ups and downs, during which it has changed a number of unreliable defense ministers, and when it really comes to Shoigu's hands, it is already full of holes. If Shoigu hadn't patched up with a pitiful amount of military spending every year, the Russian-Ukrainian war might have been a complete defeat for the Russian army. Not to mention that Shoigu still has to balance the forces of all sides, so that all factions in Russia are satisfied and have money to be taken, which is already hellish in difficulty.
It would not have been possible for anyone to do this errand, but Shoigu really got it done. In the Russian-Ukrainian war, Shoigu's ability has been further proved, Russia's military spending in 2023 is only 86.4 billion US dollars, and with such a meager military expenditure, all war needs must be met, which is enough to show Shoigu's ability. In comparison, the United States' military spending in 2023 is enough to be $877 billion, but it can't even afford a small Ukraine. If Shoigu, the plywood general, is a waste, then what is US Secretary of Defense Austin? Waste in waste?
In this regard, we can only say that Shoigu has truly achieved "I can't fight a war, and you can't fight ashes", as the so-called: five bricks and two ashes can not be used up, known as the contemporary Xiao Xiaohe, the rubber board general is still there, and Shao's name has been passed down through the ages.