Growing up in an Eastern Eu country (former communism), nobody there underestimates the professionalism of soviet military. They are many, but not brilliant - see MH17 and so on.

Please expand, it is unclear from your words do you think they are professional or not. And what exactly should we see with MH17?

I'm not comfortable sharing details because they can be traced back to specific people and events, but I've seen people doing highly-skilled high-demand tasks under alcohol influence "to calm their nerves".

MH17 was shut down because the radar operator could not read his screen / correlate with other sources of information regarding civilian flights. Can tell you a bit about how professional those operators were.

I think it was pretty obvious what they meant.

An old friend of mine has recently finished his term in the Russian military. According to his words explaining his own experience, and things he heard during military exercises from guys from other parts of the country, most soldiers are being trained not to defend their country, but to do three things: paint walls, wash their clothes, and clean up the premises.

It's no wonder you can mistake a passenger airplane for a military aircraft after such a stimulating experience.

Russia still has military draft. Gotta do something with all that free labour. They do however also have actual professional soldiers, and lots of them. Those should be more trained / competent.

Considering that Americans who shot down Iran Air Flight 655 were given medals, shooting down a passenger plane is quite an achievement for a well-trained Navy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655#Post-tour_...