The Russian military has used civilian cell phones and radios for their communications, including civilian hand-held radios made by Chinede, during the Kremlin’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
According to Defense Express MagazineThe Russian military is using BaoFeng UV-82HP radios to communicate in frontline units currently stationed in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian army managed to seize Russian combat vehicles and equipment, including regular Chinese radios and documents with call signs and radio frequencies for communication in a dynamic and highly congested operating environment.
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US Royal Service Institute (RUSI) note that the BaoFeng UV-82HP radio uses the V/UHF band and has no military-grade encryption. Why it is believed to be in the possession of the Russian military is unknown. However, this caused immediate speculation about the status and performance of radio communications of the Russian Armed Forces.
RUSI says that evidence of Russian communications in Ukraine shows that the modernization of the Russian Armed Forces has been difficult, presenting operational and tactical challenges.
The RUSI report said: “Ukrainian open source intelligence and reports show that radio communication between Russian forces is very poor, leading to temporary solutions including the use of high frequency radio that is not encrypted (HF) for long-range communications and mobile phones.
At the same time, the Russian soldiers themselves also noted that the Ukrainian army uses the latest tactical radios manufactured by Harris, Motorola and Aselsan.
