| The iraqi army-which is cloned from the red army in the final decades of the soviet union- mounted only a feeble defense before falling apart.
The key conclusion we must draw from this is that the obselete structure of the russian armed forces has to be urgently changed,says vladimir dvorkin,head of the russian defense ministry's offical think tank on strategic nuclear policy.The gap between our capabilities and those of the americans have been revealed,and it is vast.We are very lucky that russia hasno major enemies at the moment,but the future is impossible to predict,and we must be ready.
Twelve years after the ussr's collapse, the most unreformed branch of russian society remains its armed forces.Though it numbers still remain at about 1.2 million personnel,and its annual budget has dropped to about 10 billion,the structure,weaponry,the doctrines still remain the same as in the past.Each russian defense minister since 91 has plegded sweeping reform,yet more than half of the armys combat forces,remain ill trained conscrips REQUIERED to serve at least 2 years for just 100 rubles the equivelent to 3 bucks a month.. |