The argument about troop numbers falls apart under historical evidence. By this logic, the Soviets should have easily won in Afghanistan but they failed to. Incidentally, the Russians have already suffered more losses in this war than they did in the whole of the Soviet-Afghan conflict.

Viewing war in this way is determinstic and fails to take other factors such as logistics, morale and industrial capacity into account. This is a poor piece that makes some bizarre claims especially the one that Putin wanted to avoid the war. This is the same Putin that levelled Grozny in Checnhya, invaded Georgia in 2008 and Crimea in 2014. He wants to reestablish Russian control over former Soviet colonies, this has been his goal for years.

It's amazing how many useful idiots Putin has around the world.