Russia does not do maneuver warfare. I’ve known a few cavalry officers who are probably looking at Russia’s performance in the east and licking their chops.

The reason Russia doesn’t do maneuver warfare is because they can’t solve the great prisoners dilemma problem that all militaries face.

(Every individual soldier is best off if everyone *except* him does their duty. Think of how Arabs are great raiders and opportunists but have trouble holding the line.)

Nobody solves the prisoners dilemma of combat as well as Europeans. Nobody. And Russians — at least their culture and their institutions — are NOT European.

They do what they’re best at. A sort of anti-blitzkrieg. They leverage their greatest ability which is lying. They use words (promises, treaties) to distract their enemy while infiltrating his institutions and gaining influence over dissenting political movements and alternative media.

They uphold the illusion of their own strength, even to the extent of silencing the families of their own fallen soldiers.

They use their networks to amplify the illusion of whatever false reality is most suitable to them.

They strive to create decay and demoralization in the institutions of their enemy and wait for opportunities. Like Arab raiders, they are very opportunistic.

They pretend to have a European style, maneuver army, but they don’t. Many times in history (including in the present war with Ukraine), their regular military served as a rear guard pressing reluctant, undisciplined irregular forces into the fight.

They don’t maneuver. Not much anyway. They can’t sustain a fight. They don’t have a flexible, efficient logistics system.

More importantly, they don’t have trust or idealism. They think everyone is out to get them, including their families and neighbors. This is so deep in their psyche, it’s like their metaphysics. It’s been observed many times in history. Here‘s a 19th century example. Russians don’t have good intention and they can’t even fathom how idealistic Westerners are. Everything is suspect. This nihilism is why they can’t cooperate on the level of Europeans. Without an armed rear guard, their military formations would disintegrate.

The Russian way of war is causing decay and demoralization (by lying their asses off), and seizing opportunities.

The only physical threat they pose to NATO is their significant nuclear arsenal.