The Ministry of Defense of Russia is facing a wave of criticism within the country due to innovations regarding the Russian army.

This was reported by the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

The new rules of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, in particular, limit the use of personal vehicles and some personal electronic devices in the combat zone.

In addition, new standards of care for men on the front line have appeared.

"The Russian Ministry of Defense is trying to increase the professionalism of the Russian armed forces and probably test and improve the effectiveness of its command structures down to the level of small units," ISW said.

In this way, Russia seeks to assess the ability of lower-level commanders to carry out orders according to standards.

This problem in the Russian Ministry of Defense was highlighted by the strike of the Armed Forces against the occupiers in Makiivka on December 31, where up to 400 mobilized Russians died.

After the attack in Makiivka, the Ministry of Defense of Russia probably recognized the lack of proper operational security practices among servicemen.

The problem of self-care among front-line occupiers has also become a stumbling block between lower-ranking commanders and undisciplined soldiers who refuse to obey orders.

Several well-known representatives of the pro-war information space of the Russian Federation, in particular, officials of Russia and the so-called "DPR" seized on the new rules and criticized the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Shoigu himself.

For example, the deputy of the Moscow City Duma Andriy Medvedev complained that the Russian Ministry of Defense ignores real problems at the front and instead prohibits the movement of personal vehicles in the combat zone, which, according to him, limits the ability of volunteers to provide Russian servicemen with advanced equipment and supplies, which the Ministry of Defense cannot buy for them.

In addition, Medvedev and Deputy Minister of Information of the so-called "DPR" Daniil Bezsonov said that the ban on the use of personal electronics will prevent soldiers from operating quadcopters and storing terrain maps offline. 

This suggests that Russia's military leadership will struggle to implement substantial and sustainable reforms as long as they continue to place responsibility for change on an individual basis, analysts say.

Most likely, it will be difficult for the Russian Ministry of Defense to effectively implement these proposed changes due to the ongoing fragmentation in the information space, which strongly contradicts the traditional apparatus of the Ministry of Defense.

Currently, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation faces a significant deficit of trust in its reforms.

It will be recalled that on December 31, the Ukrainian military launched a high-precision strike on the temporary Russian barracks in Makiivka in Donbas.

It was possible to do this thanks to the mobile phones of the Russians, the signal from which the Ukrainians were able to successfully use to their advantage.

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