Izvestia, December 11, 1996

Izvestia has obtained an interesting document, which has been forwarded to the Russian Security Council and contains radical proposals on reforming the national armed forces. The group of authors of this document includes officers of the General Staff, which is why we will not make their names public.

The military reform is to be carried out in two stages. At the first stage, in 1997-2000, the armed forces will mostly undergo reductions, proceeding from the greatly limited economic possibilities of the state. The army and the navy is to be slashed to 1.2 million servicemen, while other paramilitary formations will be reduced by 30%, and the military-construction and other such units will be liquidated.

At the second stage, in 2001-2005, the armed forces will be built up to 1.7 million men and officers, to be drafted by contract. The number of generals and admirals will amount to 0.1% of the overall strength. This means that 500 generals will have to look for a new job.

The reduction of the armed forces will proceed through unification and integration of related structures. For example, the Strategic Missile Forces, the Aerospace Command and the Military Space Forces are to be united into the Missile Space Forces. The General Staff will have an operations command of strategic forces, which will control the national nuclear triad.

The Air Defence and the Air Force are to form the Air Defence Forces, and the main command of the Land Forces will be terminated, with its functions, including those of training mobilisation reserves, to be handled by the General Staff.

But the main task is to ensure a unity of the military- administrative division of the national territory both in peacetime and during a war. The boundaries of military districts will be changed to coincide with the boundaries of the districts of the Interior Ministry Troops and the frontier forces.

All plans of operational, combat and mobilisation training of different military units, their strategic deployment in case of war, and operational preparations of the potential theatre of war will be controlled by one centre, namely by the commander of each particular military district and the General Staff. This will slash expenses by at least to one-third of the current sum.

The dramatic reduction of defence spending is the key idea of the proposed reforms. The authors say that we should admit openly and honestly that Russia cannot wage a global war now and will never prepare for such a war in the future. In the near future we will be able to deal with only a local conflict, which should be neutralised with the troops of one military district, or a regional armed conflict, which should be put out by the troops of two or three military districts.

Should a war go beyond these boundaries, Russia will be prepared to use nuclear weapons, the authors of the document write. It will do so to preclude an all-out war against it and its allies. This idea should be sealed in out military doctrine, said one of the experts who knows about the proposals. At least this will be honest.

I have learned that these proposals have not yet been discussed in the Security Council or the Defence Council. Yet they are already coming across fierce resistance in the Defence Ministry and other power departments. I can easily guess why.

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David Johnson

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