Putin's Wars

Mark Galeotti's "Putin's Wars: From Chechnya to Ukraine" offers a comprehensive examination of Russia's military engagements under Vladimir Putin's leadership, spanning more than two decades of conflict. As one of the foremost Western experts on Russian security affairs, Galeotti brings considerable expertise to this analysis of how Putin has used military force as an instrument of both domestic and foreign policy. The book traces a clear trajectory from the brutal wars in Chechnya through interventions in Georgia and Syria, culminating in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine that has reshaped European security.

The strength of Galeotti's analysis lies in his ability to contextualize each conflict within the broader evolution of Russian military doctrine and political strategy. Rather than treating these wars as isolated events, the author demonstrates how they form part of a continuum in which the Kremlin has progressively refined its approach to armed conflict. The Chechen wars of the late 1990s and early 2000s, which helped consolidate Putin's power, established patterns that would recur in later conflicts: the willingness to use overwhelming force, the manipulation of information, and the disregard for international norms when they conflicted with perceived Russian interests.

The book examines how Russian military capabilities evolved between these conflicts. The 2008 war with Georgia exposed significant weaknesses in command and control, logistics, and coordination between different branches of the armed forces. These shortcomings prompted substantial military reforms aimed at creating a more professional, flexible force. Galeotti tracks how these reforms influenced subsequent operations, particularly the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the intervention in Syria beginning in 2015, both of which demonstrated improved Russian military effectiveness in specific, limited scenarios.

Galeotti provides valuable insight into the role of hybrid warfare in Russian strategy, analyzing how Moscow has combined conventional military force with cyber operations, disinformation campaigns, and the use of proxy forces. The conflicts in eastern Ukraine serve as a particularly illuminating case study of these methods, where Russia employed a mixture of regular forces, separatist militias, and plausible deniability to achieve its objectives while attempting to avoid full-scale international confrontation. The author explains how these tactics reflected both Russian strategic thinking and practical limitations on the country's ability to project conventional military power.

The analysis of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine forms a crucial part of the narrative, as this conflict represented a dramatic escalation from earlier engagements. Galeotti explores how miscalculations about Ukrainian resistance, Western resolve, and Russia's own military readiness led to a campaign that quickly deviated from its apparent initial objectives. The book examines the strategic, operational, and tactical failures that characterized the early phases of the invasion, from the failed assault on Kyiv to logistics breakdowns that hampered Russian forces throughout the country.

Throughout the work, Galeotti maintains focus on the political dimensions of these conflicts. Putin's wars are presented not simply as military campaigns but as extensions of a political project aimed at restoring Russian great power status, maintaining regime stability, and pushing back against Western influence in what Moscow considers its sphere of interest. The author explores how domestic political considerations have shaped military decisions, including the Kremlin's sensitivity to casualties among regular forces and its reliance on contract soldiers, mercenaries, and conscripts from annexed territories.

The book also addresses the human costs of these conflicts, acknowledging the devastating impact on civilian populations in Chechnya, Syria, Ukraine, and elsewhere. While Galeotti's primary focus remains on strategic and military analysis, he does not ignore the humanitarian dimensions of the wars he examines. The destruction of cities like Grozny, Aleppo, and Mariupol serves as evidence of Russian military tactics that prioritize the achievement of objectives over the protection of civilian life and infrastructure.

Galeotti's writing remains accessible to readers without specialized knowledge of military affairs while providing sufficient detail to satisfy those more familiar with the subject matter. His analysis benefits from his extensive research background and his engagement with Russian-language sources, military doctrine, and security debates within Russia. The book serves as both a historical account and an analytical framework for understanding Russian military behavior, making it relevant for anyone seeking to comprehend the conflicts that have defined Putin's tenure and their implications for international security. The work stands as a significant contribution to the literature on contemporary Russian military affairs and the changing nature of warfare in the twenty-first century.