>From RIA Novosti

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

February 10, 1998

ANATOLY KULIKOV HAS A PROGRAMME FOR THE MILITARY REFORM

The minister says the main thing is to prevent Russia from ending in Iraq's situation

By Sergei SOKUT

On February 7 the Academy of Military Sciences, a public organisation of leading experts on security, held its annual meeting, attended by Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev, Interior Minister Anatoly Kulikov, presidential assistant Yuri Baturin, commanders-in-chief of the Strategic Missile Force and the Air Force Vladimir Yakovlev and Anatoly Kornukov, and other military leaders.

General of the Army Makhmut Gareyev, president of the Academy of Military Sciences, delivered a report which cast a new light on the military doctrine, differing from the official viewpoint. Marshal Sergeyev spoke about the concept of the reform, implemented under his supervision, above all as regards military research agencies of the Defence Ministry and the other power structures as a component part of the national research arsenal. The minister highly assessed the role of the academy in coordinating the work of different agencies on security issues.

But the report delivered by Interior Minister Anatoly Kulikov produced a sensation. He disclosed his attitude to the key aspects of military reform, largely contradicting the views of the military-political leadership of Russia. Kulikov stated that the military reform has been launched but "is skidding." This is logical, he said, since effective reforms in this sphere "can be carried out only by economically well-off countries."

Anatoly Kulikov suggested that the current changes in the military sphere, caused mainly by economic hardships, should be considered as the first stage of the reform, which boils down to cuts in the armed forces and other troops. The main task of this stage, and hence the key element of the concept of the reform, is to preserve the combat capabilities of the armed forces and other troops despite dwindling funds.

The Interior Minister believes we should analyse not just local conflicts. "We must prepare the army and the state for a drawn-out war," he said. This statement clashes with the line set by President Yeltsin in May 1997, when he demanded that the provision on the potential global conflict be crossed out of the future military doctrine.

It was logical that after that the minister suggested that the command staff of the armed forces be preserved, with the retired officers dispatched to such structures as the tax inspectorate and tax police, where they would get extra money for their rank and would be called back for regular combat training. Kulikov denounced the idea of cancelling conscription. He believes that this does not meet the conditions of our multinational state and will erase the already ebbing patriotism.

The best ratio of volunteers and conscripts is 70:30, he said, as it will ensure the requisite mobilisation basis for deployment in wartime. This ratio will solve the recruitment problems after the year 2005, when the annual conscription reserves will dwindle to 380,000.

The minister also suggested other practical solutions to the recruitment problems of the armed forces and other troops. In particular, he believes that conscription age could be raised to 19, and calls for making the conscription campaign, which is now held twice a year, a never-ending affair.

Anatoly Kulikov stressed that, in elaborating the concept of preserving the combat capabilities of the armed forces, we should proceed from the economic possibilities of the state. The main things we must preserve now are "military science and officer cadres, without which we would not be able to quickly revive the army and the navy up to standards required for the Russian state, so as to preclude the situation which we now have in Iraq."

The speech of General Kulikov, accepted by the audience rather benevolently, is also interesting in that it showed that the minister has a complete set of views on the military policy of Russia.

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Johnson's Russia List

#2055

10 February 1998

davidjohnson@erols.com