ST. PETERSBURG, June 14 (Interfax) - The air force commander complained on Saturday Russia's armed forces were so underfunded that "no money at all remains for buying new weapons or equipment, least of all for research and development."

In the course of planned military reforms the armed forces "must get rid of bodies which are not directly involved in military training but need considerable financial allocations," Gen. Pyotr Deinekin told Interfax.

He said he mainly had in mind military trade organizations and construction forces. The latter, forces used on military construction sites, annually cost about 2 trillion rubles to keep, the general said.

The reforms must make the armed forces "much smaller in numbers but raise their standards."

One of the proposed reforms is to merge the air force and the air defense forces. Deinekin said top commanders were divided on the proposal but that such a merger was inevitable and would become a reality quite soon.

"One can confidently speak about the forthcoming merger...," he said. That is an "objective" need that "cannot be evaded."

The general said orders to combine the two arms of the forces would most likely come within a few days.

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The Russia List

16 June 1997

djohnson@cdi.org