>>it seems that Russian forces were as good at fooling NATO as they were at fooling their own high command

To be as fair as possible, through the Cold War the US was also pretty good at self-deception / overestimation of Soviet military power. I'd always thought that it had more to do with passing US military spending bills (with a dash of Soviet maskirovka - both sides had reasons to overestimate) than anything else.

I'd be curious to hear other opinions on why this took place. Anyone?