Photo: RBC

With his arrival at the Ministry of Defense, Sergei Shoigu began to demand openness from the traditionally closed ministry and his subordinates. Yesterday’s board can be called historic, since it discussed not the usual “develop”, “increase”, “improve” for such events, but very specific measures for the development of the armed forces until 2020. A few hours before the meeting, the military distributed a document that spelled out in detail what and when should happen in the army. For example, already in 2014, the first state center for unmanned aircraft will appear in the country, and a year later such centers will operate in each of the four military districts. Specific generals and admirals will be punished for failure to meet deadlines.

The military had previously made long-term plans for the development of troops, but the generals always kept all their ideas secret. The public became aware only of the number of contract soldiers drafted into the army (plans were thwarted more than once) and the saturation of the troops with modern weapons. But now any Internet user can find out how many submarines the military will purchase in three years or what the pension of a retired officer will be in 2017.

Yesterday, on the website of the military department, a special section “Plan of activities of the Ministry of Defense until 2020” opened (the word “reform” has recently not been held in high esteem in army circles), where you can find out how and due to what the Russian army will turn into one of the the most equipped and combat-ready in the world.

Minister Shoigu himself attributed yesterday’s revolutionary step not to himself, but to President Vladimir Putin. According to him, the task of providing civil society with the opportunity to monitor the implementation of the plan was set by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.

It turns out that if earlier the military could get away with not fulfilling what they promised, now there is no such loophole left for them. The document spells out very specific numbers and sets clear deadlines. For example, in 2015 the army should receive a new tank and infantry fighting vehicles, a year later - a corvette and the S-500 anti-aircraft missile system. In the coming years, 16,476 washing machines and vacuum cleaners will be added to the showers in the barracks. And so on.

“If the plan on at least one of the points is thwarted, we will always have someone to ask, there will be no situations in which no one is to blame,” a source in the Ministry of Defense commented to RBC daily.

One of the most pressing issues today, as recognized at yesterday's board meeting, is the staffing of the army. Despite increased wages and social security, there are no queues at the military registration and enlistment offices. According to Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, the army is only 80% equipped with human resources, and by the end of the year this figure will be increased to 82%. According to the plans of the General Staff, it will be possible to fully staff the Armed Forces only by the end of 2014, while 295 thousand “bayonets” will be contract soldiers. To achieve this figure, Mr. Shoigu said, 60,000 people will have to be recruited into the army within a year. At the same time, he demanded that the quality of the recruited contingent not decrease. In the future, the number of contract soldiers in the army will increase every year by approximately 50 thousand military personnel. The goal is to reach 425 thousand contract soldiers by 2020, which will be 59% of the total number of military personnel in the country.

An army with the face of Shoigu