Always ready

By 2012, no more than a million people will serve in the Russian Armed Forces, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said on October 8. The officer corps will also be reduced to 150 thousand. It was initially planned that the reduction would be carried out by 2016, the minister said, but now “the task has been set to reach this figure” in more than three years.

The main principle of the renewed Russian Armed Forces, in accordance with the principles bequeathed by the president on September 15, is that they will consist primarily of units of constant readiness, Serdyukov said. At the same time, the minister assured that no one would be “cut to the quick”, and the reduction of the officer corps “will be carried out exclusively as planned” - “due to the gradual dismissal of officers who have served the established terms.” They promise to increase the pay of military personnel.

Not long ago, a message appeared citing a source in the Ministry of Defense that it is planned to form a Rapid Reaction Force based on the Airborne Forces, Marine Corps and special forces units in a short time. According to experts, it takes years for such a system to function properly. However, Serdyukov said that the Rapid Reaction Forces already exist in the form of the Airborne Forces, and now a decision has been made to create another rapid reaction brigade as part of the Airborne Forces in each military district.

Serdyukov made these statements after a meeting of the joint board of the Russian and Belarusian defense ministries. Before the meeting, Secretary of State of the Union State Pavel Borodin promised that on November 2 the countries would sign an agreement on the creation of a unified regional air defense system, without hiding the fact that this is “practically protection from NATO.”