However, they have the troops...
However, they have the troops...
I think Americans often fall into the trap of thinking the Russian army has not changed since 1942. The idea that the Russians still use human wave tactics using soldiers with no rifles and masses of antique armor is simply no longer true. That is North Korea, not Russia. Putin commands a modern military that for all its flaws decisively won three wars over the last decade and is full of battle hardened veterans.
Crimea was classic blitzkrieg using a combined push of sleeper units, special forces, navy, airpower, infantry, fifth column traitors, and a massive propaganda campaign (so successful that it is routinely echoed on FR). They caught the West with their pants down and achieved a significant and even bloodless military victory. Sure, Russians are still behind us in technology, but the idea that these are untrained peasants, with one gun per squad, that need to be shot at from behind to advance is false.