The Russian military is continuing to implement longstanding plans likely in preparation for a possible future war with NATO, experts have warned. Putin’s armed forces are forming new divisions as part of a transition back towards a force structure based on maneuver divisions, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) wrote in its daily report on the war in Ukraine. The Russian Pacific Fleet announced yesterday the reorganisation of its 155th Naval Infantry Brigade into the 55th Naval Infantry Division.
It comes after former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced in December 2022 that the Russian military command intended to form 17 new maneuver divisions, including by expanding five existing naval infantry brigades into five divisions, specialists noted. The ISW wrote: “The new 55th Naval Infantry Division is very likely not staffed at its full doctrinal end strength, given that the 155th Naval Infantry Brigade participated in combat operations, including in the Pokrovsk direction and previously in Kursk Oblast, which likely have significantly degraded the brigade.
“ISW has observed evidence to support the formation and combat deployment of at least eight new Russian divisions since December 2022.
“The Russian military command has formed the 104th Airborne (VDV) Division and the 27th, 68th, 69th, and 71st motorized rifle divisions from previously existing brigades, and the new 67th, 70th, and 72nd motorized rifle divisions since December 2022.
“These divisions also likely have not yet reached their doctrinal end strength, as they have all been committed to active combat operations.”
It added: “The Russian military will likely be able to bring them up to their full end strength rapidly after the end of fighting in Ukraine.
“ISW continues to assess that the expansion of Russian conventional forces and the Russian military’s larger force structure reform back to maneuver divisions is in line with Russia’s preparation for a possible NATO-Russia war in the future, as the Russian military command likely assesses that the Russian military will require more mass and higher echelon formations to wage effective combat operations.”
It comes as Donald Trump‘s special envoy Steve Witkoff is due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, to dicsuss a peace plan that Washington hopes can end the conflict in Ukraine.
The Kremlin has claimed that Russian forces have captured the key Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk in the eastern Donetsk region.
But Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that fighting was still ongoing on Monday.
