July 17, 1997

MOSCOW (AP) - President Boris Yeltsin has drastically changed the structure of Russia's oversized armed forces, streamlining the chain of command in a bid to create a leaner and more effective military.

Yeltsin, who is vacationing at a government residence in northern Russia, announced his decisions Wednesday on Russian television after a three-hour meeting with Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin.

He also reiterated a pledge to cut the 1.7 million-strong forces by 500,000 by the beginning of 1999 and said he would merge the Strategic Missile Forces and Military Space Forces into a consolidated Missile Forces.

He also abolished the Ground Troops command, handing its functions over to territorial military districts.

And he merged the air defense troops with the Air Force. Another Yeltsin decree put railroad troops under the fold of the civilian Federal Road Service.

The moves will improve coordination between the different branches of the military, Yeltsin said.

Yeltsin also set a limit on funds the Defense Ministry can spend on maintaining its central office in Moscow, putting it at 1 percent of the total budget. The government did not say what the current level is.

The government long has promised to modernize the beleaguered military, plagued by a severe funding shortage.

In May, Yeltsin fired former Defense Minister Igor Rodionov over his failure to carry out radical cuts, replacing him with Gen. Igor Sergeyev, the former Strategic Missile Forces commander.

Russian armed forces have been in disarray, with many servicemen going months without pay and proper rations. Soldiers have received few new weapons and there has been no money for proper training.

Corruption and other crime has been widespread, and several top generals have been dismissed and arrested on suspicion of embezzlement and corruption.

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Johnson's Russia List

#1057

17 July 1997

djohnson@cdi.org