Translated material
Innovation army
Another reform of the Russian armed forces begins
A new large-scale reform of the Russian armed forces has been launched. And although there is no single document on this matter, numerous plans in various spheres of life and activity of the state’s security component allow us to confidently speak about a new round of defense innovations. Moreover, their progress is accelerating at the initiative of the leadership of the military department.On July 1, in accordance with the new general military regulations, which came into force on January 1 of this year, the reorganization of garrisons in the army and navy began. It is planned to create 70 territorial garrisons, which, as a rule, will coincide with the borders of the federal subjects. In addition, 109 local garrisons will be formed. The commanders of the military districts will present the Minister of Defense with a list of territorial garrisons and their boundaries, and the head of the military department will approve them. Today the boundaries of new garrisons are being agreed upon and their certification is underway.
However, as the head of the Main Directorate of Combat Training, General Vladimir Shamanov, said, in some districts and fleets they did not have time to approve new garrison boundaries, so the main large-scale transformations, which the military does not refuse, were decided to begin this fall. For this purpose, 179 military commandant's offices with guardhouses will be formed.
The creation of garrisons on a territorial basis, as expected, will allow commanders to more clearly interact with executive authorities, territorial bodies of other law enforcement agencies - the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the FSB... Bringing the security forces and local authorities under a “common denominator” allows us to speak fully justifiably on the military-administrative division of the country's territory. The organizer and implementer of the innovation is the Troop Service Directorate of the Main Directorate of Combat Training. They claim that the changes will not require significant financial expenditures, since the new formations will be the result of the reduction and disbandment of the currently existing garrisons. Now there are more than half a thousand of them in the armed forces.
By early July, the Ministry of Defense planned to determine the new look of the armed forces and their number. During the new reform, the General Staff is going to eliminate the imbalance inherent in our army: in the armies of leading states there are only 14-16% of the total number of military personnel; in the Russian armed forces this figure is 2-2.5 times higher. That is, a significant number of officers will be reduced. It is planned to optimize (in fact, reduce) the size of the army and navy. Today 1 million 134 thousand people serve there. Sergei Ivanov, in the rank of Minister of Defense and then First Deputy Prime Minister, said that the number of 1 million people would be reached by 2017. Anatoly Serdyukov recently made an amendment: the million should already be in 2013. The picture is the same with the proportion of defense spending. Today, only 30% goes to development (weapon purchases, modernization, repairs, R&D), and 70% goes to maintaining the army. Sergei Ivanov planned to change this ratio to the opposite by 2017, Anatoly Serdyukov names 2015 as a target.
The army will be reduced in part by removing unnecessary units and subunits. The well-known cavalry regiment in Alabino, near Moscow, whose service consisted of serving the Mosfilm film studio, has already been reduced. There are still many such units “with functions unusual for the army.” In addition to unnecessary units, motorized rifle formations will be reduced, since the course is set for a technological army, and priority will be given to the people “at the control panels.” It is planned to remove shoulder straps from certain categories of military personnel - journalists, scientists, doctors, lawyers, and logistics officers not directly related to combat training. In total there will be, according to some sources, 150 thousand people. The central apparatus of the ministry, headquarters, commands of military districts and fleets is planned to be reduced by almost half.
The leadership of the Ministry of Defense decided to link the quality of service of officers with the payment for their military labor. Today, the military department is developing criteria for determining the best officers who will be paid bonuses. It is planned to spend about 100 billion rubles on bonuses in 2009-2011. from a special fund. It is designed for approximately 30 thousand officers, who will be determined at the end of the year. The amount of monthly bonuses for each distinguished employee can range from 60 to 300 thousand rubles.
Military financiers are not stupid people and they probably understand that they are planting a real bomb with these bonuses. At least, that's what the officers who smelled gunpowder think. What battles and fights will take place at officer meetings, where those worthy of bonus money will be determined, how many envious people will be there and those who are sincerely offended by the unfair decision, how many financial abuses and kickbacks will have to be investigated by military prosecutors! Let’s imagine just one situation: the division commander did not receive the award, but the regiment commander subordinate to him became the “laureate.” According to the eternal Russian desire for universal equality, the division commander will simply kill his more successful subordinate from the world. Or force you to share.
In the coming days, the Minister of Defense should clarify the specific tasks of the army and navy. One of these completely new tasks is already clear - this is preparation for carrying out tasks in the northern and arctic regions. We are talking about protecting Russian interests in the Arctic, in particular on the Arctic shelf, which Russia claims. Such Arctic training is already underway in several units and formations of the Leningrad, Siberian and Far Eastern military districts.
It is likely that positions of military psychologists and specialists from psychological assistance and rehabilitation centers will be added to the regular units (not on permanent readiness). The need for innovation is explained by the transition to a one-year service life and the increasing workload on the entire command staff. And the quality of intelligence of the conscript contingent also requires the constant presence of a psychologist in the barracks - some conscripts cannot name the capital of Russia. Let us remind you that permanent readiness units have full-time psychologists, starting with the battalion.
The transition to a 12-month service will most likely entail another reform innovation. Under the pretext that soldiers conscripted for only a year must be trained in military affairs even before conscription, the Ministry of Defense decided to take the Russian Defense Sports and Technical Organization (ROSTO - former DOSAAF) under its roof. The leadership of this public organization, which has the opportunity to earn good money, is desperately defending itself. In about a month, the State Duma Defense Committee will hold hearings on the fate of ROSTO. Vremya Novostey's sources claim that the issue will ultimately be resolved in favor of the military department. The Ministry of Defense is going to have 125 thousand people who, by the time they are drafted into the army, would already have a military specialty (there are supposed to be 40 such specialties in total). For this purpose, 7.8 billion rubles have been allocated for 2008-2010.
Two more innovations in army reform are coming. Firstly, the Ministry of Defense is thinking about how to draft into the army young people of military age who, according to “legend,” study at foreign universities. And there are about 10 thousand of them. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the FSB will get involved in the problem. Secondly, video cameras will be installed in military camps and barracks. Mainly to combat hazing.
And as the apotheosis of the new military reform, a new strategy for building the armed forces using innovative technologies will be developed so that, as the new Chief of the General Staff Nikolai Makarov promised, to create an innovative army by 2020.