Putin's new conscripts find that they are not issued proper equipment, armor, weapons, or even uniforms. Some beg their relatives to buy some of what is missing.

I can't imagine anything worse for relatives of conscripts to do than pay for equipment to enable sending those conscripts to the front. That is self-defeating.

If you don't have warm underwear, you might get sick or frostbitten and be sent to the rear. Isn't that a good outcome?

I've read that British soldiers in France in World War I, knowing that the generals' incompetent tactics would get almost all soldiers killed uselessly sooner or later, used to pray for wounds that would make them invalids — that was a chance for survival.

If they give you a fake helmet that won't protect you, how about throwing it away? Likewise, a rusted rifle that you can't rely on. Why disguise the fact that you lack necessary equipment? The army needs to know this.

On the other hand, asking your relatives for a bulletproof vest might make sense; that would tend to protect you from the hits that are likely to kill you.