Our friends over at Soldier Systems blog have been tracking an interesting story about whether the Russian army has copied a Finnish camo pattern...or whether the Russian soldier photographed wearing the curiously similar fatigues might have been going off the reservation a bit.
It's not very often that you run across articles in the NY Times on Soldier System topics, but the Russian Interior Ministrys latest camo pattern is allegedly a dead ringer for the Finnish Armys pattern. The pattern was reportedly worn by Russian Special Operations troops during the recent hostilities in Georgia. While the Russian Government has flatly denied copying the pattern, they have been known in the past to copy US Woodland pattern as well as German Flecktarn. Additionally, tipsters have alerted us to Russian versions of the Finnish m/05 pattern for sale on ebay within the last year. Obviously, considering a sizable common border and a past history of conflict with Russia, the Finns are a bit concerned.
[Note: Picture shows Russian special operations troops wearing Brit DPM, woodland and far left, the Finnish pattern]
Update:
In an update to the NY Times story of Finnish concerns over Russias purloining of their Armys camo pattern, Strike Hold has published a photo of Russian troops in Georgia wearing the Finnish m05 camo as well as a copy of Brit DPM.
