Terminator General

(Photo: ar )

In the Russian Ministry of Defense, great changes are possible. This is clearly noticeable in the suddenly increased stream of rumors about the upcoming general resignations and appointments. Journalists with special care analyze the versions about the alleged resignation of the Commander -in -Chief of the Air Force and commander of the Moscow military district, as well as the possibility of assigning the Glavkomsky Strategic Missile Forces of the next rank. At first glance, all this looks no more than the next stage of at least two years of the positional conflict between the “rocket launchers”, of which the Minister of Defense, and “military generals”, whose leader is the chief of the General Staff Anatoly Kvashnin.

However, this time things are much more serious. The fight went not for the posts that one group is trying to win from the other. According to the “results”, in April of this year, the chief of the General Staff sent his proposals to the Supreme Commander -in -Chief of his proposals to radically change the structure of the armed forces and now processes the president with enviable tenacity, seeking the approval of this document. Starting with the already ritual complaints about the deplorable state of general purpose forces: the non-membrane of personnel, the almost complete absence of modern military equipment, Anatoly Kvashnin proposed an extremely extraordinary, truly revolutionary means of leaving the crisis: to reduce the amounts necessary for the revival of general purpose forces 6-7 times. According to Kvashnin, this is necessary by 2003, that is, four years earlier than the expiration of the life of heavy missiles now in service.

If you recall how much strength our diplomats and the military spent, seeking the transfer of Russian missiles recorded from the START-2 from the Americans, they cannot call the head of the General Staff the proposal of the head of the General Staff. After all, the 1997 New York Protocol, according to which Russia received the right to remove missiles from combat duty only after the expiration of the operating life, and not by the originally laid date, was regarded at one time as an outstanding success.

However, the chief of the General Staff does not think so at all. In his opinion, it is necessary not to extend the life of missiles, but, on the contrary, send them to the scrap as soon as possible. Kvashnin now proposes to reduce Russian nuclear weapons, and unilaterally, to a level of even lower than the SNV-3, not yet signed agreement, suggests.

Around the march
They say that the deputies of Kvashnin were in shock when he introduced them to his strategic idea. After all, this is essentially a radical change in Russian defense policy, the basis of which is the maintenance of a strategic balance with the United States, which is recorded in the concepts of national security and military doctrine that has begun. The latter also declares nuclear weapons the main means of preventing large -scale non -nuclear aggression against our country.

The implementation of Kvashnin’s plans will give the United States a colossal military advantage, not comparable to the one that they will receive if the national missile defense system is deployed, which Moscow is so actively opposed.

So the chief of the Russian General Staff, busy with the tireless search for enemies in the military department, risks making friends in the camp of American ultra -conservatives who insist that the United States should break all the disarmed agreements with Moscow and become the only superpower on the globe of Super Power.

The argument, which Kvashnin in support of his position, boils down to the fact that a nuclear war with the United States is impossible, which means it makes no sense to maintain a strategic balance with them. We will not argue about the war. But it is well known that nuclear weapons are primarily a political tool. The possession of it is protected by the state from possible aggression by both nuclear and non -nuclear countries. Let us not forget that it is mainly nuclear weapons that provides Russia with membership in the club of powers - world leaders, from which we extract a very specific benefit - both political and economic.

It should also be noted that Russia with a small number of missiles is a great danger for America and the whole world than the current one, which has powerful nuclear potential. Having lost the opportunity in the event of a nuclear attack, to deliver a response, our country will be forced to bet on a preemptive strike. This means that the occurrence of even insignificant tension in the current scale will objectively push Russia to use nuclear weapons.

Trishkin caftan
But such trifles of Anatoly Kvashnin do not care at all. He is obsessed with the idea of ​​reviving, and in their former Soviet form, the forces of general purpose, sacrificing them the only type of armed forces - the Strategic Missile Forces - the only combat effectiveness. This obsession makes him completely deaf to the arguments of military theorists and economists. And they argue that the liquidation of missiles, disbanding missile formations, the payment of compensation and providing housing for a large number of dismissed officers and warrant officers will require such amounts in the coming years that there can be no question of any savings.

Do not forget: no more than 18 percent of the military budget is spent on the Strategic Missile Forces. Even if all the money is given to public forces, this will not raise it. Anyway, until these forces are reformed, they will not help them significantly large amounts.

Therefore, serious military experts, in particular, deputy chairman of the Committee on Defense of the State Duma, Alexei Arbatov, propose to reduce non -nuclear forces that just meet all modern requirements, but the total army of the army to 700 - 800 thousand people. Of course, such a reduction is also expensive. But unlike the Strategic Missile Forces, where there are more than half of the personnel - officers and warrant officers, in other types of armed forces, the reduction can be made, simply reducing the number of military service soldiers. Already this will significantly increase the amounts expended for the procurement of weapons and combat training.

But Kvashnin does not want to hear and does not want to hear, he thinks in the categories of the recruiting multimillion -dollar army. The head of the General Staff is organically not able to imagine how to fight in conditions when society asks you for every deceased soldier.

The most amazing thing is that Kvashnin found a very influential ally - Ilya Klebanov. The Deputy Prime Minister, apparently, proceeds from the fact that for failure with the supply of ammunition and military equipment of the army fighting in Chechnya, the president will surely ask him, and for failure to comply with missile production plans, which it is still unknown whether to apply, maybe not. Hence the conclusion: it is necessary to transfer funds with a creak, but still a working program for the production of Topol-M missiles (missiles miraculously managed to save all subcontractors) for the production of ordinary weapons. Some holes this money may allow to shut up, but they will not radically change anything. To restore the long -ruined chain of adjacent, it will require the means much more than the cost of the actual production of military equipment.

Favorite
No matter how much Anatoly Kvashshnin repeats that the redistribution of the defense budget will serve to strengthen the country's defense capacity, it is by no means caring for the interests of the state. If the chief of the General Staff manages to eliminate the Strategic Missile Forces, this will greatly weaken the positions of their former commander, and now the Minister of Defense Igor Sergeyev, which Kvashnin achieves. It is no coincidence that he began to push his plan in April when the acting The president decided whom to put at the head of the Ministry of Defense.

Here, finally, guided exclusively by concern for the safety of the Motherland, to reveal one of our most large military secrets: a person is at the head of the General Staff, gently expressing themselves, not far. Systemic thinking, so necessary for the military leader of this rank, is completely absent in General Kvashnin. But there are more than enough energy, determination and frantic pressure. This leads to the results of the deplorable: recall the march of the paratroopers to Protina, which is still aking us, an attempt to take Grozny in December 99th, which turned out to be in large losses. But Kvashnin is getting away with his hands, moreover, he is in a clear favor of the new president.

No wonder the head of the General Staff has just been appointed by the Decree of Putin a permanent member of the Security Council. There are no other representatives of the same department in the Security Council that there are no representatives of the same department. The Ministry of Defense perceived this purpose as a sign: Igor Sergeyev lives on his post the last days. Experienced generals are terrified in horror from the prospect of getting Kvashnin as a minister. But, fearing that Kvashnin will become the Minister of Defense, they prefer not to object to the head of the General Staff, no matter what delusional ideas he put forward.


The fact that Anatoly Kvashnin is completely absent from systemic thinking is known to many. However, even the president cannot resist his energy and frantic pressure. (Photo: ar )