| A model of the future Russian army is being created at the General Staff Today, a crowd of people with stripes is expected in the reception room of the Chief of the General Staff. By order of Anatoly Kvashnin, the commanders-in-chief of the armed forces and the commanders of the military branches, the heads of the main and central departments of the Ministry of Defense on July 1 must present concepts for the development of the troops entrusted to them for the long term. The General Staff took up the development of a new global document in the field of defense - a detailed concept for the development of the Russian Armed Forces for the period until 2020. The Cassandras in uniform were asked to make a forecast: what the composition of the troops or forces would be, their numbers, what types of weapons and military equipment would be needed in the distant future, what logistics support would be like. Apparently, the existing plans for the military development of the state for a “short period” until 2005-2010 no longer suit military strategists.
In high military-political spheres, work has begun on several federal laws at once. In particular, “On the concept of national security”, “On the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation”, as well as on the Military Doctrine. The Federation Council Committee on Security and Defense has long been trumpeting the need for these documents. At the end of April this year, senators even held closed parliamentary hearings.
Today, in the field of national security, there are about 70 federal laws and more than 500 by-laws: presidential decrees, government decrees, orders for various departments. This legislative framework, Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Security and Defense Viktor Ozerov shared with a Vremya Novostei newspaper correspondent, does not meet new threats and contains many contradictions and blind spots. It does not sufficiently specify environmental, food and other aspects of security. Largely because there is no law “On the Armed Forces”, military reform is stalled.
In addition, senators insist on developing laws “On official secrets” and “On the protection of information from technical intelligence.” The President is recommended to include a section on national security in his annual messages to the Federal Assembly, and the government is recommended to develop an appropriate federal target program. By the way, in his last message, the president spoke about the need to modernize the military organization of the state. Apparently, based on the recommendations of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, the military department is putting forward completely revolutionary proposals. For example, exclude the federal security and protection services from the military organization of the state, and at the same time the Foreign Intelligence Service. For the simple reason that these secret structures solve the tasks assigned to them not by military means, but by special methods. At the same time, it has not yet been specified whether the uniforms and ranks will be left to the intelligence officers and counterintelligence officers or whether the special services will be turned into ordinary civilians. At the same time, the General Staff insists that the definition of “armed forces” extend to troops and military formations that are not part of the Ministry of Defense. For example, at the civil defense unit of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
Representatives of the Ministry of Defense call all this “plans to create a new model of the Russian army that would meet all the requirements of the 21st century.” Although the new plans are very reminiscent of the ongoing and sometimes not very intelligible structural shake-ups, mergers and subsequent divisions within the military organization of the state that have been going on for more than a decade. Perhaps the only thing that really deserves attention is the intention to revise the “antediluvian”, as defined by the head of the Center for Strategic Nuclear Forces, General Vladimir Dvorkin, structure of the Russian armed forces. If we talk about details, it is planned to determine the future composition of strategic nuclear forces and general-purpose forces, to finally create operational-strategic commands, mobile forces, and also to strengthen nuclear deterrent forces.
Unfortunately, we are not talking about creating a strategic airlift command, which was hotly discussed in line with the lessons learned from Iraq. There is no mention of the social protection of the military or the critical situation with the supply of new types of weapons and military equipment. Apparently, this is not an element of high strategies. Nikolay POROSKOV |
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