The Kursk Submarine Disaster: Putin’s Indifference and the Tragedy that Shook Russia

The War in Ukraine has seen Russia take the heaviest casualties in its military since the Second World War. A lack of an NCO corps, logistical strains, incompetent field grade officers, and untrained conscripts have led to military disasters and internal conflicts that nearly led to civil war and mutiny inside the country.

The Russian military is at a disorganized level that has not been seen since the First World War, and ironically, the country faces a disaster on the level of 1917. Decades of negligent leadership have plagued its military capabilities, which has affected battlefield progress against a formidable foe such as Ukraine. Ultimately, the Kursk disaster sealed the fate of Putin’s Russian Federation and the military as the disaster and handling of the crisis set the tone for the Putinist era of Russia.

The Kursk Submarine Disaster

Vladimir Putin displayed how little he cared about his military personnel with the Kursk Submarine Disaster. In this submarine tragedy, the Russian Ministry of Defense (MOD) purposely delayed its response time to rescue the naval crew after a tragic accident.

Putin himself was on vacation and hardly paid any mind to the situation of the Kursk, even when both Britain and Norway requested assistance to save the survivors. By the time Putin authorized these nations to help, the entire crew of the Kursk was dead. Putin ordered the Kremlin to silence the families and criticisms of decades of government negligence that resulted in the faulty submarine.

Desensitizing Russian society to Putin’s violent antics, his inner circle has increasingly become staffed with hardliners and military bloggers who upload gore videos from their forces to the public on Telegram. Executions of convicts within Wagner have become popular amongst the PMC’s ‘Grey Zone’ Telegram, which has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers throughout the war.

Plagued with Negligent and Uncaring Leadership

Putin reconstituted the Russian military after their military disaster in the First Chechen War. Using the more hardline methods that made Moscow infamous, Putin ordered his generals to use scorched earth tactics toward their enemies.

The Second Chechen War saw Grozny become the most destroyed city of its time, along with the decimation of the Chechen population. Nevertheless, it took Putin the strategy of paying Chechen warlords, such as the Kadyrov family, to finally quell the insurgency.

The Second Chechen War gave Putin more prestige in Russia, as he brought fear in his enemies that Russia lost in the Soviet-Afghan War. The rise in popularity solidified his hold on power and allowed Putin to restructure the Russian military as he saw fit.

As with any autocrat in history, Putin stacked the Russian Ministry of Defense with ‘Yes’ men. Yes, men do not question orders to continue satisfying the head chief, no matter how absurd they may be.

Whereas Russia was able to get quick victories in Georgia and Syria to hide the bureaucratic changes in the MOD, Moscow would not be able to hide these fatal flaws in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Armed Forces, with capable leadership and military training by the West, have shown higher professionalism and conventional capabilities compared to the Russian Armed Forces.

Normalizing Tragedies

Akin to the Kursk Disaster and subsequent crackdown on Soldier’s mothers, Putin has quelled any dissident voices in the war in Ukraine. Initially promising a quick and decisive victory to his hardliners and the general public, Putin instead found stiff Ukrainian resistance, logistical strains, and military casualties not seen in Russia since World War Two.

Russia has quietly moved to pay families of military personnel killed during the war—even going as far as giving the most absurd compensations for the dead. A recent report stated that Russian officials have given supplies of fish and even circus tickets to families of fallen troops as the economy is now starting to feel the effects of sanctions.

Already facing a small unit leadership crisis without proper NCOs controlling the tempo on the battlefield, Putin has faced pushback due to infighting. The Wagner Mutiny happened primarily due to the lack of concern or care for the mercenaries and regular Russian conscripts. Yevgeny Prigozhin stated they were led into a lie by Putin and Shoigu.

Putin’s image has always been a strongman who ‘adores his people’ and is ‘deeply patriotic,’ but his response to the Kursk disaster and the fate of his troops in Ukraine tell the opposite. Decades of bureaucratic practices, negligence, and filling coveted ranks filled with ‘Yes’ men have doomed the Russian military for the next several decades to come.