When Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov tried to reform Russia’s armed forces – by expanding the military’s training in modern defense techniques, cutting costs, and boosting efficiency – he was replaced by Sergei Shoigu, Moscow’s former governor and a die-hard Putin loyalist, who restored the outdated system. Even the army’s new uniforms, which border on the comic with their eighteenth-century epaulets and World War II jackets, invoke the past, rather than provide the comfort and efficiency needed in modern warfare.