RUSSIAN MILITARY By Tamar A. Mehuron, Associate Editor, with Harriet Fast Scott, William F. Scott, and David Markov ORGANIZATION OF THE RUSSIAN ARMED FORCES Several military structures, each subordi- forces still were divided into five services, as four major operational commands: missile- nate to Russia's President, composed the in the Soviet era. Moreover, there were two space defense troops, surface-to-air missile nation's armed forces in 1995-96. smaller services: Military Space Forces and troops, air defense (aviation) troops, and Heads of the seven most influential armed Airborne Forces, referred to as a "means of radiotechnical (radar) troops. Aircraft of the organizations sat on the Security Council. They the Supreme Command." These latter forces air defense forces (PVO) consisted primarily were the Minister of Defense, Minister of Inter- were to be the basis of Mobile Troops, which of MiG-31s and Su-27s, the latter being shared nal Affairs, Director of Federal Border Guards would have their own air transport capability. with the Air Forces. Service, Director of Federal Security Service, This, however, appeared far from realization. A new air defense agreement was signed Director of Foreign Intelligence Service, Min- Plans for regional theater commands likely for cooperation within the framework of the ister of Civil Defense and Emergency Situa- have been temporarily shelved. Other consid- Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), tions, and Minister of Atomic Energy (who erations, such as the war in Chechnya and recognizing that it took decades to create a commands troops). actions in the "near abroad," got priority. single system of defense for air, sea, and land Less-prominent power centers, commanded The Defense Ministry. This once highly borders, using the PVO, PRO (antiballistic by generals and filled with troops, reported to professional body has become politicized, rife missile defense), PKO (antispace defense), the President. They included the Presidential with dissent and corruption. Troops went for and control and communications. The ABM Security Service, Federal Agency of Govern- months without being paid. Lack of housing system around Moscow continued in opera- ment Communications and Information, Fed- remained an acute problem. The Chief of the tion. This ABM system, together with Russia's eral Service of Railroad Troops, and Federal Main Directorate of Military Budget and Fi- deep battle management complexes and shel- Directorate of Special Construction. nance was fired and tried, but not convicted, ters, has no counterpart in the United States. Estimates of military forces outside of the for investing funds intended for payment to The Air Forces (VVS) were divided into Ministry of Defense (MOD) varied from 800,000 troops. Even President Boris NI. Yeltsin com- long-range (strategic), frontal (tactical), and to nearly 2.3 million. plained about the need for reform in the Armed transport aviation. Frontal and transport avia- The MOD administered eight regular mili- Forces, a need that was supposed to have tion played major roles in Chechnya. Chief of tary districts. In addition, Russia had seven had high priority when the USSR disintegrated. the Air Forces was Gen. Col. of Aviation Peter districts of Internal Troops, six districts of In five years, little had been accomplished. S. Deynekin. In October 1995, strategic-rocket Border Guards, and seven regional centers of Gen. of the Army Mikhail P. Kolesnikov, carriers—Tu-160s, Tu-95MSs, and Tu-22M3s- Civil Defense Troops. Each agency supported chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed took part in a live firing exercise. Progress on large local staffs with general officers in abun- Forces and First Deputy Minister of Defense, the Air Forces' new fighter project 1.42/1.44 dance. There was much overlapping and du- was bypassed on major decisions, such as appears to have stalled, but the MiG Design plication in their work but little coordination. operations in Chechnya. He sought to keep Bureau's efforts to revive it continue. Most of the organizations had their own the General Staff out of politics. Dr. Andrei A. The withdrawal of Russian aircraft from schools for preparing officers. Advanced train- Kokoshin, first deputy minister of defense for eastern Europe and some areas of the "near ing often took place in Defense Ministry acad- Military-Technical and Economic Policy, ap- abroad" overloaded the airfields in the central emies, with the most senior officers going to peared to provide effective leadership in his and eastern regions of Russia. Work to ex- the Military Academy of the General Staff. assigned area. pand these airfields is under way. These non-MOD centers were not paramili- The Strategic Rocket Forces (RVSN) had For some time, Air Forces pilots in the rank tary forces in any sense. With the treaty- first priority in personnel and equipment. Ac- of major received the equivalent of $110 to driven downsizing of the MOD, many regular cording to Gen. Col. Igor D. Sergeiev, com- $155 per month, while pilots in the other power officers simply transferred to one of the other mander in chief, this service accounted for structures, such as Border Guards, Internal "power ministries." three-fourths of Russia's total nuclear poten- Troops, and Federal Agency of Government Russia's conventional military capability had tial and two-thirds of the nation's strategic Communications and Information, were re- declined dramatically. Russia's defenses were nuclear forces. He further claimed that the ceiving $320 to $380 per month. This marked based principally on nuclear weapons—tacti- RVSN requires the service of nine to ten per- difference in pay was corrected in early 1996. cal and strategic. First use of nuclear weap- cent of Russia's military personnel and five to Pilots averaged about thirty training hours per ons, under certain conditions, was specified in six percent of its military budget. year. To ensure a continuing flow of pilots, the Russia's new military doctrine, adopted in 1993. Despite Russia's severe financial situa- Air Forces advertised five boarding schools, Emphasis was given to command and control tion, the RVSN maintained a high state of featuring "primary flying" for fifteen-year-old of strategic forces, both offensive and defen- combat readiness and training. A Topol ICBM cadets. These "prep" schools prepare young sive. Work appeared to continue on the mas- of the RS-12M series was launched Novem- men for regular higher military pilot aviation sive, deep, underground battle station in the ber 10, 1995, from the Plesetsk State Testing schools. Ural Mountains. Ground in the final stage of the tactical exer- The Ground Forces (SV) remained the Armed Forces under the Defense Minis- cise of a missile regiment. A newer Topol, the largest MOD service, but their numbers were try. These forces had primary responsibility RS-12M2, flew its second test in September greatly reduced. Gen. Col. Vladimir M. Se- for defending Russia against external threats. 1995; first flight had been in December 1994. menov, commander in chief of the Ground Despite talk of a major reorganization and The Troops of Air Defense (VPVO) re- Forces, said that their strength would be abolition of the Troops of Air Defense, MOD mained the second largest MOD service, with dropped to 440,000. Neglect of the Ground 54 AIR FORCE Magazine/July 1996 ALMANAC Forces was reflected in their poor showing in The 2,000 Ground Forces helicopters are old, Sevastopol, located in Ukrainian Crimea, af- Chechnya, where they were the worst trained, and replacements are scarce. Efforts are un- ter the fleet had been divided between Russia paid, clothed, and fed of all the troops en- der way to remedy the helicopter shortage and Ukraine. The best Baltic Sea ports now gaged there. Teenagers with scarcely any with an Mi-28 Havoc and a Ka-50 Hokum belong to Estonia and Latvia. The sole re- military training were thrown into combat attack helicopter competition. The Mil Heli- maining aircraft carrier, the Kuznetsov, car- against an experienced foe. copter Design Bureau has proposed an exten- ried Su-27Ks and Ka-27 helicopters. The sub- Ground Forces' helicopter gunships, which sive upgrade of the Mi-24 Hind, called the marine fleet remained a vital part of Russia's previously had been part of the Air Forces, Mi-35. strategic nuclear force. In early 1996, stepped- were used extensively in Chechnya. Because The Navy (VMF) still maintained Black Sea, up activity from this force was noted, with they attacked unarmed targets, mostly civil- Baltic Sea, Northern, and Pacific Fleets, plus some boats operating near the US. Work con- ian, it was difficult to determine how effective Caspian and Kamchatka Flotillas. Russia tinues on a new multimission submarine, the they might be against an armed opponent. sought to keep its Black Sea Fleet port of first in the Severodvinsk class. Lineu. of Russian Aeros ace Power 1995 Russian and US Grades Naval grades in italics Strategic Forces US Includes Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus Strategic Forces. Russia had operational command and control of all Five Stars three nuclear forces. Marshal of the General of the Army 789-Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. SS-18 (RS-20): 150. SS-19 (RS-18): 204. SS-24 General of the Air Force Russian (RS-22): 72 (36 silo-based, 36 rail-based). SS-25 (RS-12M): 363. Federation Admiral of the Fleet 140-Strategic Rocket Force Helicopters. Mi-8 Hip: 140. Four Stars 113-Long-Range Bombers. Tu-95MS6 Bear-H6: 31. Tu-95MS16 Bear-H: 57. Tu-160 Blackjack: 25. General of the Army General (USA) 524-Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missiles. SS-N-8 (RSM-40): 100. SS-N-18 (RSM-50): Marshal of Aviation General (USAF) 192. SS-N-20 (RSM-52): 120. SS-N-23 (RSM-54): 112.