By Oleg Shchedrov

MOSCOW, July 19 (Reuter) - Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev said on Saturday he would be tough in pushing ahead with planned radical military reform despite a barrage of criticism from its opponents, Interfax news agency said.

``There was a place for argument before decisions were taken,'' Interfax quoted Sergeyev as saying. ``But after they were taken they need to be carried out.''

President Boris Yeltsin has ordered the defence ministry to cut troop numbers by 500,000 to 1.2 million by the end of next year in a series of steps meant to turn the demoralised military into a leaner and more effective fighting force.

The plan has incurred bitter protests from some senior opposition figures who say that the reform will finally ruin the struggling armed forces.

Sergeyev said there was no open resistance to reform among Russian top brass but admitted some of them were trying to slow it down or arbitrarily change emphases.

``We will not allow dirty games and we will decisively get rid of such people,'' Sergeyev said.

Yeltsin's ousted security aide Alexander Lebed said on Friday he was not optimistic about the new reforms.

Sacked defence minister Igor Rodionov and Lev Rokhlin, head of the lower house of parliament's defence committee, opened fire on policy overall.

``I cannot understand why our leadership is so irresponsible about military reforms. We still have no doctrine, no concept, no programme and, that means, no everyday plans,'' he said in a newspaper interview on Friday.

The armed forces, heavily funded in Soviet times, are now in disarray. They were defeated by separatist rebels in Chechnya, many soldiers have not been paid for months, corruption is rife and living conditions are getting worse.

Defence spending for 1997 was set at 88.3 trillion roubles ($15.3 billion) but later reduced under budget cuts. Officials say the military has so far received only 22 trillion roubles.

A mutiny is widely ruled out, although Rodionov said 95,000 officers had no homes and lived in railway carriages, garages, tents or their workplaces.

Strategic missile troops, military space forces and military space air defence troops are to be regrouped into one separate force called the strategic missile troops. Air defence troops will be merged with the air force.

Kremlin defence aide Yuri Baturin said the first 200,000 personnel would be discharged by the end of this year.

---------------------

Johnson's Russia List

#1063

18 July 1997

djohnson@cdi.org