The old Soviet military was not as great as their leadership led the rest of the world to believe. They had, and still have no NCO corps, the basis of the quality of both the US and UK armies. Nothing could get done if there was not an officer to supervise and/or actually do the work themselves.

They would win on the same things they used in WW2, numbers and brute force. They discovered in Afghanistan that that is not good enough. The new Russian Army is not any better, maybe worse, because they are so much smaller. They have entire units of all services that can't get out of port, the hanger or the post. They can't even afford to recyle their old, obsolete equipment. Checnya has shown some major problems still exist.

Sniper is absolutely correct, all of those old nucs and chemical weapons need a close watch.

I have to agree here. The Russian military going back to just after World War II became addicted to image over substance.

There are stories of troops being used to paint grass and leaves green for inspections, equipment being neglected for years, and the fact that spares were never purchased, just other vehicles cannibalized.

Aircraft was never flown, tanks never driven, just stock piled. Troops were never properly trained for "war-fighting" only how to look impressive in parade. Training that did occur was very skimpy (three live shells fired by tank crews in a training year) Then there was the rampant alcoholism. Like how the Mig-25 was called the "Milk Cow" because of its use of alcohol as a anti-freeze, how enterprising mechainics were skilled at using their anti-freeze and brake fluid as the basis of making moonshine rather than their intended purpose.

Now there are soldiers who sell their equipment, clothing, even weapons for food as the government cannot afford to feed them.

There are stories of troops being used to paint grass and leaves green for inspections, equipment being neglected for years, and the fact that spares were never purchased, just other vehicles cannibalized.

as for the comments about russian tactics being the human wave covering and encircling the enemy, yes it is a standard tactic and yes it did fail in Afganistan but then again modern technology failed in Vietnam.... Laser Guided Bomb LGB's or PGB's were used there and they didn't do any good.

At the end of the day its not just the machinery of war but those who use it and know how to extract the most from it that win, not who has the most buttons to press or the largest number of troops!