Translated material
Rocket Generals
Dmitry Medvedev made changes in the Ministry of Defense and Strategic Missile Forces
Yesterday Dmitry Medvedev made two important appointments in the army. Vladimir Popovkin became the first deputy minister of defense. Colonel General Alexander Kolmakov, who previously held this position, was dismissed by the same presidential decree and dismissed from military service. In addition, General Sergei Karakaev, who had previously served as chief of staff of the Strategic Missile Forces, was appointed as the new commander of the strategic missile forces.The president received the promoted generals and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov at his country residence in Gorki. During this meeting, he clarified the scope of responsibilities of the new first deputy minister. According to the head of state, Mr. Popovkin “will coordinate issues of weapons, military equipment, and resolve other issues related to the civilian component of the Ministry of Defense.”
Dmitry Medvedev recalled that Russia is currently implementing a state weapons program. “It is large-scale and very complex, but it is aimed at creating modern, effective armed forces, equipping and re-equipping them within the framework of priorities that have been agreed upon and which should create the basis for the development of the armed forces until 2020 and even until 2030,” said president.
Russia has forever moved away from the “situation of patching holes” that took place in the 1990s and at the beginning of this decade, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief is convinced. The main task today, Dmitry Medvedev believes, is methodical and scrupulous work with suppliers, who sometimes “play around” by raising prices. “Everyone needs to be kept on their toes, but at the same time, acquire what the armed forces need,” the president is convinced.
The new Deputy Minister of Defense Vladimir Popovkin graduated from the Alexander Mozhaisky Military Engineering Institute and the Dzerzhinsky Military Academy. He served at Baikonur, in the directorate of the head of space assets of the Ministry of Defense, in the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff, was chief of staff, and then commander of the space forces. Since July 2008, Popovkin has been the chief of armaments of the Russian Armed Forces and ex officio deputy minister of defense, but now he has become first deputy.
Addressing the new commander of the Strategic Missile Forces, the head of state noted that the state of the country’s nuclear shield depends on the work of the commander-in-chief. “Everything must be done to ensure that our strategic missile forces are in full combat readiness and can carry out their assigned tasks,” Dmitry Medvedev demanded.
Mr. Karakaev's predecessor as head of the Strategic Missile Forces was Andrei Shvaichenko, who held this position since August 2009. Sergey Karakaev, a native of the village of Ivano-Slyusarevka, Kushchevsky district, Krasnodar Territory, graduated from the Rostov Higher Military Command Engineering School, the Military Academy named after. F.E. Dzerzhinsky, North-Western Academy of Civil Service and Military Academy of the General Staff. Served in missile units and formations, the Main Personnel Directorate of the Ministry of Defense. Since October last year, he held the position of chief of staff - first deputy commander of the Strategic Missile Forces.
According to independent military expert Pavel Felgenhauer, Mr. Popovkin is one of the main drivers of the current military reform. “Popovkin was the first to publicly say that the problems of the Russian military-industrial complex are associated with a strong lag behind the West. And he was the first to admit that Western components are widely used in Russian space systems. No one had publicly stated this before him. And in 2008, Popovkin was the first to announce that Russia would buy foreign-made military equipment, and not just components,” Mr. Felgenhauer told a Vremya Novostei correspondent. The expert believes that Popovkin’s promotion is a sign that military reform is now entering a new phase: now its main focus will be the rearmament of the domestic army.
The appointment of Mr. Popovkin was primarily due to two reasons, says Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies. “He is certainly a very talented officer. The space forces have always been the most advanced, both technically and intellectually. And Popovkin is their bright representative,” Mr. Pukhov told Vremya Novostey. Secondly, the expert believes, he has proven himself excellent as commander of the military space forces, which he managed to successfully reform.
But there is another reason that contributed to Mr. Popovkin’s career growth. An informed source, on condition of anonymity, told Vremya Novostei that the new first deputy defense minister is an old acquaintance of Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin. “In reality, this will be the number two person in the Ministry of Defense. The role of Chief of the General Staff Nikolai Makarov will increase only in the event of war. In peacetime, he will be lower than Popovkin on the hierarchical ladder,” said the interlocutor of Vremya Novostey.