Russia’s nuclear fleet began disintegrating

Russia’s latest actions must be viewed against the backdrop of a defense sector that is eroding faster than the Kremlin can conceal it. The war in Ukraine has turned into a resource-grinding confrontation that exposes how dependent Moscow has become on liquidating assets once considered untouchable pillars of its strategic power. Increasingly, Russia is forced to choose between preserving long-term military capability and generating the short-term cash needed to keep its war machine running. This dilemma has pushed the Kremlin into unprecedented decisions that would have been unthinkable before 2022, revealing both financial desperation and structural decline. As sanctions bite deeper and industrial decay accelerates, high-end systems are no longer symbols of national strength but commodities traded to sustain a failing battlefield strategy. Against this backdrop, each new “defense partnership” reveals less about cooperation and more about a military power cannibalizing itself to survive the present at the expense of its future.

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