Interfax in English

May 22, 1997

MOSCOW, May 22 (Interfax) -- The number of militias subordinated to various ministries and other agencies other than the Defense and Interior ministries will be cut, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov told journalists in Moscow Thursday. A total of 17 agencies have militias with a total of over 4 million armed men and women, he said. "No budget can sustain this," Nemtsov said.

Russian President Boris Yeltsin on Thursday formed two commissions in charge of reforming the armed forces, one chaired by Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and the other by First Deputy Prime Minister Anatoliy Chubays, he said. A decision has been made to take numerous steps to improve the atmosphere in the armed forces, Nemtsov said.

The president made it absolutely clear that combat-ready and mobile units had to be created which would be well-armed and fed while nobody would be allowed to humiliate the enlisted men, NCOs and junior officers, he said.

"The ponderous and stupid institutions existing around the armed forces must be abolished," Nemtsov said. The reform plan covers, in particular, military trading stores, he said. Their system is hopelessly outdated, Nemtsov said. The government intends to issue loans for the construction of living quarters for servicemen, he said. "This could be done now," Nemtsov said. "The situation in the army only deteriorated when Igor Rodionov was the defense minister and so the president as the supreme commander-in-chief had to start instilling order in the units," he said in comment on Rodionov's dismissal. "The important thing now is what will happen next rather than the removal of a minister," Nemtsov said.

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Johnson's Russia List

24 May 1997

djohnson@cdi.org