MOSCOW, MAY 7. /RIA Novosti correspondent Alexei Meshkov/.

On the 7th of May falls the fifth anniversary of the signing by the Russian president of a decree creating the armed forces of the Russian Federation. As a RIA Novosti correspondent was told in the press service of the Defence Ministry, the creation of the Russian Army was formed, in particular, also by the way of Russia's assumption of jurisdiction over and withdrawal to the country's territory of military formations stationed in the republics of the former USSR and the far abroad. In the period 1992-1994 there was redeployed to the territory of Russia a grouping of 29 motor/rifle, tank and airborne divisions, 51 missile, artillery and antiaircraft missile brigades, and 66 aircraft and helicopter regiments. The total personnel withdrawn to Russian territory came to more than 300,000. In 1992-1996 the troop level of the Russian forces was cut from 2.8 to 1.7 million. In the current year a further reduction of 200,000 men is envisaged.

According to Defence Ministry data, the share of military spending in the structure of the country's GDP from 1992 to 1997 fell from 4.5 to 3.82 per cent. Actually, however, military expenditures over the last few years were lower, because starting in 1993 the ministry each year did not receive in full the sums approved by the law on the federal budget. Thus, in 1996 about a third of the budget allocations did not reach the army, and in the first quarter of 1997 11 trillion roubles was actually allocated for armed forces building and maintenance instead of the earmarked 20.7 trillion roubles; that money was used only to disburse the pay to the servicemen and civilian personnel and to pay for food and fuel and lubricants. The 1997 sum approved in the state budget will help to solve the tasks of armed forces building and maintenance in the course of not more than nine months, military experts believe. In this connection talks about a possible sequestration of the budget of the Defence Ministry will not add opt

imism to the military. In spite of the existing difficulties, the armed forces continue implementing measures aimed at optimising the structure and composition of the Russian army and taking action to intensify combat training.