Russian Armed Forces

Armed Forces of the Russian Federation
File:Big Emblem of Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.jpg Emblem, Insignia and Flag of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation
Founded	1991 (1918)
Current form	7 May 1992
Service branches	Russian Air Force Russian Ground Forces Russian Navy Strategic Rocket Forces Russian Space Forces Russian Airborne Troops
Leadership
Commander-in-Chief	President Dmitry Medvedev
Ministry of Defence	Anatoliy Serdyukov
Chief of the General Staff	Army General Nikolay Makarov
Personnel
Military age	18 years of age
Conscription	12 months
Active personnel	1,027,000
Reserve personnel	754,000
Expenditure
Budget	$61 billion (FY09) (ranked 5th)
Percent of GDP	3.5% (2009 est.)
Related articles
History	Military History of Russia History of Russian military ranks Military ranks of the Soviet Union
Ranks	Air Force ranks and insignia Army ranks and insignia Navy ranks and insignia

The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (Template:Lang-ru Transliteration: Voruzhonnije Síly Rossíyskoj Federátsii) are the military services of Russia, established after the break-up of the Soviet Union. On 7 May 1992 Boris Yeltsin signed a decree establishing the Russian Ministry of Defence and placing all Soviet Armed Forces troops on the territory of the RSFSR under Russian Federation control. The Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces is the President of the Russian Federation (currently Dmitry Medvedev). Although the Russian army was formed in 1991, Russian military dates its roots back to the times of the Kievan Rus'. Currently the Russian army employs about 1,100,000 Regular troops and about another 1,000,000 Reserve troops.Russia's claimed defense budget stands at US$61 billion for FY2010 but the actual spending on the armed forces is estimated to be a lot higher than that. Currently the Russian army is undergoing extensive and highly financed technological modernisation of its forces. Russia is one of the few countries that has an fully indigenous arms industry, producing its own military equipment.

History

As the Soviet Union officially dissolved on December 31, 1991, the Soviet military was left in limbo. For the next year and a half various attempts to keep its unity and transform it into the military of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) failed. Over time, the units stationed in Ukraine and some other breakaway republics swore loyalty to their new national governments, while a series of treaties between the newly independent states divided up the military's assets. On 7 May 1992, Yeltsin appointed himself as the new Russian minister of defence, marking a crucial step in the creation of the new Armed Forces. By December 1993 CIS military structures had become CIS military cooperation structures with all real influence lost.

In the next few years, Russian forces withdrew from central and eastern Europe, as well as from some newly independent post-Soviet republics. While in most places the withdrawal took place without any problems, the Russian Armed Forces remained in some disputed areas such as the Sevastopol naval base in the Crimea as well as in Abkhazia and Transnistria. The Armed Forces have several bases in foreign countries, especially on territory of the former Soviet Republics.

A new military doctrine, promulgated in November 1993, implicitly acknowledged the contraction of the old Soviet military into a regional military power without global imperial ambitions. In keeping with its emphasis on the threat of regional conflicts, the doctrine called for a Russian military that is smaller, lighter, and more mobile, with a higher degree of professionalism and with greater rapid deployment capability. Such change proved extremely difficult to achieve. Under Defence Minister Pavel Grachev, little military reform took place, though there was a plan to create more deployable Mobile Forces. Later Defence Minister Rodionov had good qualifications but did not manage to institute lasting change. Only under Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev did a certain amount of limited reforms begin, though attention was focused upon the Strategic Rocket Forces. Significant reforms were announced in late 2008 under Defence Minister Anatoliy Serdyukov, and major structural reorganisation began in 2009.

Key elements of the reforms announced in October 2008 include reducing the armed forces to a strength of one million by 2012; reducing the number of officers; centralising officer training from 65 military schools into 10 'systemic' military training centres; reducing the size of the central command; introducing more civilian logistics and auxiliary staff; elimination of cadre-strength formations; reorganising the reserves; reorganising the army into a brigade system; and reorganising air forces into an air base system instead of regiments.

The amount of military units is to be reduced in accordance with the table:

Arms and branches	2008	2012	Reduction
Ground Forces	1890	172	-90 %
Air Force	340	180	-48 %
Navy	240	123	-49 %
Strategic Rocket Forces	12	8	-33 %
Space Forces	7	6	-15 %
Airborne Troops	6	5	-17 %

An essential part of the military reform is its down-sizing. By the beginning of the reform, there were about 1,200,000 active personnel in the Russian army. Largely, the reductions falls within the officers. Personnel are to be reduced according to the table:

Category of military men	September 1, 2008	December 1, 2009	Planned for 2012	Reduction
General	1107	780	866	−22 %
Colonel	15365		3114	−80 %
Lieutenant Colonel	19300		7500	−61 %
Major	99550		30000	−70 %
Captain	90000		40000	−56 %
First Lieutenant	30000		35000	+17 %
Lieutenant	20000		26000	+30 %
Officers in total	365000		142000	−61 %
Praporshchik	90000	0	0	−100 %
Midshipman	50000	0	0	−100 %

It is planned that by 2016 the amount of active personnel in the Russian Armed Forces will not exceed 1 million people.

Organization

The Defence Ministry of the Russian Federation serves as the administrative body of the Armed Forces. Since Soviet times, the General Staff has acted as the main commanding and supervising body of the Russian armed forces: U.S. expert William Odom said in 1998, that 'the Soviet General Staff without the MoD is conceivable, but the MoD without the General Staff is not.' However, currently the General Staff's role is being reduced to that of the Ministry's department of strategic planning, the Minister himself, currently Anatoliy Serdyukov may now be gaining further executive authority over the troops. Other departments include the personnel directorate as well as the Rear Services of the Armed Forces of Russia, railroad troops and construction troops. The Chief of the General Staff is currently General of the Army Nikolai Makarov.

The Russian military is divided into the following branches: the Russian Ground Forces, the Russian Navy, and the Russian Air Force. There are also three independent arms of service : Strategic Missile Troops, Military Space Forces, and the Russian Airborne Troops. The Troops of Air Defence, the former Soviet Air Defence Forces, have been subordinated into the Air Force since 1998. The Armed Forces as a whole seem to be traditionally referred to as the Army (armiya), except in some cases, the Navy.

The Ground Forces are divided into six military districts: Moscow, Leningrad, North Caucausian, Privolzhsk-Ural, Siberian and Far Eastern. The name Leningrad remains for the district in the north-west of Russia in honour of the estimated 1.5 million who gave their lives during the German siege of the city in 1941-44. There is one remaining Russian military base, the 102nd Military Base, in Armenia left of the former Transcaucasus Group of Forces. It may report to the North Caucasus Military District.

A T-90 tank of the Russian Ground Forces

The Navy consists of four fleets and one flotilla:

• Baltic Fleet (HQ at Baltiysk in the enclave of Kaliningrad Oblast).
• Pacific Fleet (HQ at Vladivostok).
• Northern Fleet (HQ at Severomorsk).
• Black Sea Fleet (HQ at Sevastopol, Ukraine. (In 2005, the Ukrainian government agreed that Russia would be allowed to lease several base areas around Sevastopol until 2017.)
• Caspian Flotilla (HQ at Astrakhan).

There is also the Kaliningrad Special Region, under the command of the Commander Baltic Fleet, which has a HQ Ground & Coastal Forces, formerly the 11th Guards Army, with a motor rifle division and a motor rifle brigade, and a fighter aviation regiment of Sukhoi Su-27 'Flanker', as well as other forces.

Chief of the General Staff, General of the Army Nikolai Makarov

Similarly, there is the Northeast Group of Troops and Forces, headquartered at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, comprising all Russian Armed Forces components in the Kamchatka Oblast and the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug [district] and subordinate to the Commander Pacific Fleet headquartered in Vladivostok.

In mid 2010 a reorganisation was announced which would consolidate military districts and the navy’s fleets into four operational-strategic commands (OSC). Geographically divided, the four commands will be called Centre (Yekaterinburg), South (HQ in Rostov-na-Donu), East (Khabarovsk) and Western (HQ in St. Petersburg). Each will control one or two military districts and one or two fleets or flotillas. The plan, to be put in place on December 1, 2010, mirrors a proposed reorganisation by former Chief of the General Staff Army General Yuri Baluyevsky for a Regional Command East which was not in fact implemented. The four commands were set up by a decree of President Mevdevev on July 14, 2010. An Operational-Strategic Command of Missile-Space Defence has also been established on the basis of the former Special Purpose Command of the Russian Air Force.

Russian command posts, according to Globalsecurity.org, include Chekhov/Sharapovo about 50 miles south of Moscow, for the General Staff and President, Chaadayevka near Penza, Voronovo in Moscow, and a facility at Lipetsk all for the national leadership, Mount Yamantaw in the Urals, and command posts for the Strategic Rocket Forces at Kuntsevo in Moscow (primary) and Kosvinsky Mountain in the Urals (alternate). It is speculated that many of the Moscow bunkers are linked by the special underground Moscow Metro 2 line.

Russian security bodies not under the control of the Ministry of Defence include the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Federal Security Service - including the Border Troops and Coast Guard Service of the Federal Protective Service (Russia) since 2003, the Federal Communications and Information Agency, the FSB Kremlin Presidential Regiment and the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Personnel

A Russian soldier at a checkpoint co-guarded by Russian and American troops in Kosovo

As of 2008, some 480,000 young men are brought into the Army via Conscription in Russia in two call-ups each year. The term of service is 12 months. Eligible age is 18 to 27 years old.

Deferments are provided to undergraduate and graduate students, men solely supporting disabled relatives, parents of at least two children and - upon Presidential proclamation - to some employees of military-oriented enterprises. Men holding Ph.D. as well as sons and brothers of servicemen died or disabled during their military service are released of conscription.

There are widespread problems with hazing in the Army, known as Dedovshchina, where first-year draftees are bullied by second-year draftees, a practice that appeared in its current form after the change to a two-year service term in 1967. To combat this problem, a new decree was signed in March 2007, which cut the conscription service term from 24 to 18 months. The term was cut further to one year on January 1, 2008.

Thirty per cent of Russian Armed Forces' personnel were contract servicemen at the end of 2005. For the foreseeable future, the Armed Forces will be a mixed contract/conscript force. The Russian Armed Forces need to maintain a mobilization reserve to have manning resources capable of reinforcing the permanent readiness forces if the permanent readiness forces cannot deter or suppress an armed conflict on their own.

The ranks of the Russian military are also open to non-Russian citizens of the Commonwealth of Independent States, of which Russia is the largest member. By December 2003, the Russian parliament had approved a law in principle to permit the Armed Forces to employ foreign nationals on contract by offering them Russian citizenship after several years service. The Russian Armed Forces use the traditional forms of reference of Comrade to help solidify the service personnel as part of something larger than themselves.

Awards and decorations of the Armed Forces are covered at Awards and Emblems of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation.

Budget

In 1988 military spending was a single line item in the Soviet state budget, totaling 21 billion rubles, or about US$33 billion. Given the size of the military establishment, however, the actual figure was considered to be far higher. However, between 1991 and 1997 newly independent Russia's defence spending fell by a factor of eight in real prices. Between 1988 and 1993 weapons production in Russia fell by at least 50% for virtually every major weapons system.

In 1998, when Russia experienced a severe financial crisis, its military expenditure in real terms reached its lowest point— barely one-quarter of the USSR’s in 1991, and two-fifths of the level of 1992, the first year of Russia’s independency existence.

Defence spending is consistently increasing by at least a minimum of one-third year-on-year, leading to overall defence expenditure almost quadrupling over the past six years, and according to Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, this rate is to be sustained through 2010. Official government military spending for 2005 was US $32.4 billion, though various sources, have estimated Russia’s military expenditures to be considerably higher than the reported amount. Estimating Russian military expenditure is beset with difficulty; the annual IISS Military Balance has underscored the problem numerous times within its section on Russia. The IISS Military Balance comments - 'By simple observation..[the military budget] would appear to be lower than is suggested by the size of the armed forces or the structure of the military-industrial complex, and thus neither of the figures is particularly useful for comparative analysis'. By some estimates, overall Russian defence expenditure is now at the second highest in the world after the USA. According to Alexander Kanshin, Chairman of the Public Chamber of Russia on affairs of veterans, military personnel, and their families, the Russian military is losing up to US$13 billion to corruption every year.

On September 16, 2008, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced that in 2009, Russian defence budget will be increased to a record amount of $50 billion.

On 16 February 2009 Russia's deputy defence minister said state defence contracts would not be subject to cuts this year despite the ongoing financial crisis, and that there would be no decrease in 2009. The budget would still be 1,376 billion roubles and in the current exchange rates this would amount to $41.500 billion.

However, later that month, due to the world financial crisis, the Russian Parliament's Defence Committee stated that the Russian defence budget would instead be slashed by 15 percent, from $40 billion to $34 billion, with further cuts to come. On 5 May 2009, First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said that the defence budget for 2009 will be 1.3 trillion rubles ($39.4 billion). 322 billion rubles are allocated to purchase weapons, and the rest of the fund will be spent on construction, fuel storage and food supply.

Procurement

See also: List of countries by military expenditures

About 70% of the former Soviet Union's defence industries are located in the Russian Federation. Many defence firms have been privatized; some have developed significant partnerships with firms in other countries.

The structure of the state defence order under President Putin changed. Priority was given to the acquisition of sophisticated modern weapons, in light of the events in Chechnya. Previously, financing of strategic nuclear deterrence forces had been a priority, and up to 80% of assignments for the state defence order were spent on their needs. It was planned that beginning from 2000 the state defence order would comprise two priority directions: assignments for the nuclear deterrence forces, and assignments for purchase of conventional arms including the precision guided weapons.

The recent steps towards modernisation of the Armed Forces have been made possible by Russia's economic resurgence based on oil and gas revenues as well a strengthening of its own domestic market. Currently, the military is in the middle of a major equipment upgrade, with the government in the process of spending about $200 billion (what equals to about $400 billion in PPP dollars) on development and production of military equipment between 2006-2015.

Russia is the world's top supplier of weapons, a spot it has held since 2001, accounting for around 30% of worldwide weapons sales.

Nuclear weapons

Main article: Russia and weapons of mass destruction

According to some sources, Russia possesses the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world. Other sources claim that the stockpile of the USA is larger. Russia's Strategic Rocket Forces controls its land-based nuclear warheads, while the Navy controls the submarine based missiles and the Air Force the air based warheads. Russia's nuclear warheads are deployed in four areas:

An RT-2PM Topol at a Victory Day Anniversary Parade Rehearsal in Moscow, 2008.

1. Land based immobile (silos), like RS-24.
2. Land-based mobile, like RT-2UTTH Topol M.
3. Submarine based, like RSM-56 Bulava.
4. Air-launched warheads of the Russian Air Forces' 37th Air Army

Russian military doctrine sees NATO expansion as one of the threats for the Russian Federation and reserves the right to use nuclear weapons in response to a conventional aggression that can endanger the existence of the state. In keeping with this, the country's nuclear forces received adequate funding throughout the late 1990s. Russia, with approximately 16,000 warheads, possesses the largest stockpile of nuclear warheads. The number of intercontinental ballistic missiles and warheads on active duty has declined over the years, in part in keeping with arms limitation agreements with the U.S. and in part due to insufficient spending on maintenance, but this is balanced by the deployment of new missiles as proof against missile defences. Russia has developed the new RT-2UTTH Topol M missiles that are stated to be able to penetrate any missile defence, including the planned U.S. National Missile Defence. The missile can change course in both air and space to avoid countermeasures. It is designed to be launched from land-based, mobile TEL units and submarines . Russian nuclear forces are confident that they can carry out a successful retaliation strike if attacked. The more or less adequate maintenance of Russia`s nuclear arsenal has often been the subject of criticism and concern as to the Nations' need and ability to maintain large quantities of nuclear weapons after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia`s Nuclear Bomber Fleet mainly consisting of the TU-95 "Bear" Heavy Bomber have resumed longe-range training flights on some occasions even nearing U.S. - Canadian Airspace, this in particular was commented by current commander of the U.S. Northern Command, James A. Winnefeld Jr. "We do not intercept every single flight because we do not wish to feed their propaganda about their illusion of power where power is not quite there". ,

Because of international awareness of the danger that Russian nuclear technology might fall into the hands of terrorists or rogue officers who it was feared might want to use nuclear weapons to threaten or attack other countries, the Federal government of the United States and many other countries provided considerable financial assistance to the Russian nuclear forces in early 1990s. Many friendly countries gave huge amounts of money in lieu for Russian Arms purchase deals which kept Russian Agencies functioning just like they used to earlier with high efficiency. This money went in part to finance decommissioning of warheads under international agreements, such the Cooperative Threat Reduction programme, but also to improve security and personnel training in Russian nuclear facilities.

Notes

• "How are the mighty fallen." The Economist. July 2-8th, 2005. pp. 45–46

Further reading

• Henry Ivanov, ‘Country Briefing: Russia—Austere deterrence’, Jane’s Defence Weekly, 28 April 2006

References

• Austin, Greg (2000). The Armed Forces of Russia in Asia. London, New York: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 1 86064 485 6. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Keir Giles, Military Service in Russia: No New Model Army, Conflict Studies Research Centre, May 2007
• International Institute for Strategic Studies, The Military Balance, various editions
• Odom, William E. (1998). The Collapse of the Soviet Military. Yale University Press. ISBN 0300074697.

External links

• Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation (English version)
• Russia's Military Analysis A very comprehensive online database of modern Russian arms and military technologies. Website also has discussion forums, videos and more.
• Russian Army
• Russia Military Guide Includes satellite photos of bases.
• - British Conflict Studies Research Centre papers on Russian armed forces
• kamouflage.net Camouflage uniforms used by Russian Federation armed forces
• "Что такое современная армия России". Kommersant (in Russian). 2005. Retrieved 20 September 2008.
• Boy with reattached legs joins Russian army (RT article)