Russia’s New Ground Forces: Capabilities, Limitations and Implications for International Security (Whitehall Papers) 1st Edition

This is a very good presentation of the status of the Russian Ground Forces 2017. The Authors are clearly experts on this issue and reading the book you are sure to find information that is either new to you or very hard to find. If you are interested in the subject and want to know as much as possible this is a good start and will get you a long way. There is a surprisingly large volume of details in the book that makes it above what you will find in most other publications. The Writing and presentation of the information is well done and supported by a limited number of maps and tables. Most of the information is supported by footnotes to the sources that it came from but not all of it and there are a few items that are probably wrong.In the beginning of the book the authors write that they will not address the issue of mobilization of the armed forces. Instead they refer you to another publication from RUSI. Unfortunately this publication only deals with the mobilization of Russian Economy and industry but not the armed forces. Since the Russian Armed Forces still depend on mobilization this is a vital part of information in order to understand their capabilities.Another area where I doubt their calculations is the question of air transport. They seam to calculate all their figures for lift capacity as if all available transport aircraft are operational. This is not the case in any air force in the world and very much so in Russia. I would be very much surprised if the lift capacity is even half of their figures. The Most important transport system in Russia is the railroad but that is not covered at all in the book.The Ongoing Russian war against Ukraine is dealt with and there are some interesting facts presented considering this. One of the statements they present is an information that the Russians had two Spetznas battalions in Transdnistria during the early phase of the war. This is not supported by source and in all probability wrong. How would the Russians get them there when Transdnistria has no airport and rail transport is through Ukraine? In the early phase of the war all sorts of information came out of Ukrainian sources and not all of it was correct.One of the very odd things in the book is a statement that not all information is in the book "for the case of brevity" but if you contact the authors they will mail it to you. I did. Several times but the end result was that an assistant sent over a short list of units in the European part of Russia but far from what was promised in the book. I have no idea why such an offer was put to print if they would not support it when contacted.But all together this is a very good presentation of the Russian Ground Forces. It is also a rather positive picture that are painted. Texts on this subject have a tendency to either enlarge the problems they have or the opposite. This book does a good job of presenting the facts as the authors sees them and depending on who you are and were you live you will have to draw your own conclusions if this is good or bad for you.