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Putin’s Army Kept Losing Officers and the Answer Was Sitting Inside Its Own Command Post
Something was going terribly wrong inside Russia’s 36th Motor Rifle Brigade. Its soldiers were being killed in unusually successful Ukrainian attacks, command meetings were becoming dangerous, and military positions that should have remained concealed were suddenly being struck with remarkable accuracy.
Russian commanders knew that Ukraine possessed sophisticated reconnaissance drones, Western-supplied weapons, and an extensive intelligence network. But none of those advantages fully explained why Ukrainian forces seemed to know so much about the brigade’s movements.
The surviving officers began looking for answers. Some suspected that their communications were being intercepted. Others feared that information was leaking from somewhere inside the military organization.
But the explanation was much closer than anyone imagined.
The man helping Ukraine identify Russian positions was a lieutenant working inside the brigade’s own communications system.
His name was Lev Stupnikov, a 26-year-old Russian officer who had graduated from a prestigious military academy in St. Petersburg. He was responsible for maintaining communications between commanders and military units, giving him access to…
