General Day

The Ministry of Defense creates regional commands instead of military districts, the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Russian Ministry of Defense made a long -expected decision yesterday - to abolish military districts, and instead of them to create three regional commands: in the West, East and southern country. There will be no northern direction: the Ministry of Defense of seals and white bears is not afraid. The generals say that the reform will help to overdite the army to combat the main threat - terrorism. Other goals - to reduce military spending and the number of generals - are not declared so frankly. This step will inevitably cause the resistance of the headquarters of the general’s environment and, according to experts, will require additional expenses from the state budget.

There are three types of the Armed Forces in Russia: navy, ground forces, military-air forces and three kinds of troops-strategic missile forces (Strategic Missile Forces), Airborne Forces (Airborne Forces) and Space Forces. The armed forces are now divided into six military districts and four fleets. Each of the six military districts is actually a separate army with personnel, headquarters, military equipment, weapons, rear and reserves.

After the reform, instead of military districts, three regional commands will appear: Eastern, South and Western. From the north of the Ministry of Defense, there is no threat. The new structure of the aircraft, according to reforming generals, will be able to more effectively respond to the main danger of modernity - terrorist attacks. It is more important in this format to wage local wars.

In the event of an armed conflict, the role of the coordinator will apparently take on the headquarters of the regional command. And the former headquarters of the military districts will only provide the material and technical unit. Only strategic missile troops will not be crushed in three directions, since rockets with nuclear warheads are more reliable to keep under the command of one center.

Information on the global structural reform of the army, especially in its "general" unit, was first officially announced by the Minister of Defense Sergey Ivanov on May 24 in the State Duma at a closed "government hour". It is not known what the minister said to the deputies, but he explained to reporters that by 2010-2011, budget funds allocated for national defense should be distributed in the following proportion: 50% - for the maintenance of the aircraft and 50% - for their development. Now this proportion is 60 by 40%. Here it is worth paying attention to the date - just from 2010 to 2015, the Ministry of Defense plans to create regional commands.

In addition, Ivanov noted that in the near future it is planned to reduce about 300 generals in order to reach the proportion of one thousand military personnel, although six months ago he argued that "no plans to eliminate military districts and fleets today or in the remote perspective exist." The minister also stated that "there are no plans to abolish the chief men of the types of armed forces and the creation of strategic commands in the directions instead." When Ivanov finally issued a terrible secret about reduction in the State Duma in the State Duma, the General Front, apparently, was no longer considered in the ministry as an organized force.

The planned reform, as is usually the case, can be carried out hardly half, which, in turn, will negate all efforts to optimize army structures. This opinion is shared by the deputy leader of the Center for Political Technology Alexei Makarkin. He is convinced that in the allotted time it is impossible to implement such a grandiose project.

The reform will begin literally next month, but it is unlikely to end in the announced time - after 8 years, the expert notes. All these years of the army, organizational confusion threatens the army, and combat readiness can weaken. “The reform is successful or not, it will be seen on this basis: mass dismissal of senior officers and generals,” says Makarkin. “There are more than 10 thousand in their device!”

But in any case, it is easy to get rid of the generals by Sergey Ivanov and the head of the General Staff Yuri Baluevsky. The headquarters of the new regional commands will not be able to accommodate all generals and senior officers from the abolished district headquarters. The Ministry of Defense is unlikely to be dismissed to reduce the states of the Ministry of Defense. “Most likely, the generals will save posts, and they will only be dismissed upon reaching retirement age,” says Makarkin. The second option is a reduction in general vacancies: “Generals will remain to serve in a new structure, but in a colonel position,” the expert suggests.

There will be even more general posts after the reform, says Boris Nemtsov, a member of the Federal Political Council of the ATP, a hot supporter of the contract army. "Just under the Ivanovo, the generals in the army bred most!" - says Nemtsov. He believes that it is necessary to change the structure, but the personnel. What is the use of reforming, if a massive draft remains, the purchases of military equipment and weapons are scanty, the social problems of military personnel are poorly solved, although more and more money is allocated for defense. “Ivanov says that he will reform the army within the allocated money and by reducing personnel,” Nemtsov said. “Trillions will go to reform without a guarantee of success.” One way or another, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, remembering the unsuccessful administrative reform of the spring of 2004 (recall, then the transition to a three-level public administration system ended in the fact that there were more higher officials, although the purpose of the innovations was just their reduction in their number), has a chance to show itself a good military administrator if the general corps is really reduced.

05/29/2006 / Rustem Falyakhov, the material was published in the newspaper No. 90 dated 05/30/2006.