LONG SHOT

Putin Tries to Hide Shortages With Sniper Boot Camp Propaganda Clip

The Russian President tried to drum up morale after recruits complained their equipment was in a desperate state.

Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared in state media firing a sniper rifle during a visit to a training camp for reservists in an apparent attempt to paper over systemic supply shortages that have left his recruits heading into battle hopelessly unsupported. The Russian leader attended the boot camp in Ryazan, southeast of Moscow, in a bid to show the supply crisis was being addressed by the Kremlin. The video also included footage of a military officer showing weapons, boots, and clothing Putin and his defense minister Sergei Shoigu. Recruits drafted by Putin’s disastrous military mobilization have flooded social media with clips complaining about the state of the equipment—if given any at all—with which they have been sent into battle in Ukraine.