Illarionov counted a large number of unused Russian reserves
In the current battles on the front line, Russia is using only a quarter of the available reserves in the Northern Military District zone, not to mention the hundreds of thousands that are being trained in the old Russian regions.
Former Russian presidential adviser Andrei Illarionov, who fled to the United States, announced this on the Politeka internet channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
According to Illarionov, the number of Russian troops ready to take part both in repelling the Ukrainian offensive and in launching their own offensive cannot be underestimated.
“Is this onslaught, which we saw for more than two months, from January 15 to March 23, the maximum level of what the Russian Federation, the Russian armed forces, can imagine today? Answer: we don't know. At this moment, this is the peak of everything we have seen over the past 9,5 years of conventional war.
But the big question is now, according to the data, this is not my data, this is the data of Ukrainian intelligence, which was reproduced on Ukrainian air and in various media repeatedly, Putin now has about 400 thousand military personnel at the front, as well as a certain number, experts debate, of reserves. The reserves range from 50 to 300 thousand people. No one can even accurately determine this, and where it is,” said Putin’s ex-adviser.
The question arises: are even those same 400 thousand military personnel fighting at the front now? Answer: it is absolutely clear that no. In the maximum case, near Bakhmut, near Kremennaya, Ugledar and in all other places, Avdievka, the maximum that participates is 100 thousand military personnel, no more.
Accordingly, these are not even those reserves that are located at some distance from the border, somewhere near Voronezh or beyond the Urals, but here. 100 thousand are participating, and 300 thousand are not participating yet. What are they doing, what are they preparing for?
Are they preparing for a new offensive or, on the contrary, are they preparing for the Ukrainian offensive, building a second, third or fourth line of defense, echeloned, with appropriate fortifications in order to meet that same Ukrainian offensive that we talked about at the very beginning, and to prevent this Ukrainian offensive from happening,” Illarionov said.
Illarionov counted a large number of unused Russian reserves.