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"IT’S TIME TO PAY ATTENTION TO RUSSIAN MILITARY REFORMS" |
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Published by Eurasia Net (USA)
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Thursday, 04 January 2007 |
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"Since the fall of the Soviet Union, foreign analysts and governments have paid relatively little attention to Russian defense policy. This is understandable given the drastic decline of Russian military power in the 1990s and early 2000s. Circumstances are changing, however, and the improving capabilities of the Russian military once again merit scrutiny. It is well known that President Vladimir Putin’s key objective of restoring the effectiveness of Russian state power is intimately connected with the restoration of Russia’s military might. To that end, Putin has encouraged comprehensive reform of the armed forces’ structure and composition. Accordingly, the state has greatly increased military spending. Russia sees the most immediate threats to its interests as coming from Islamic militants in its so-called southern direction. Thus, the Putin administration has sought to improve Russia’s ability to project power in Central Asia. And the purpose of projecting that power is not merely to defend Central Asia against Islamic radical-related security threats and internal upheavals, but also to assert and consolidate a Russian-dominated sphere of influence there. …In 2006, Russia appeared to step up efforts at creating a unified military-political organization in Central Asia, pushing for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to be transformed into a military and defense alliance. Russian officials publicly deny that the SCO is a bloc or military alliance. But Moscow keeps pushing for the SCO and its members to undertake military exercises and to develop defense-related capabilities. At the 2006 annual meeting of heads of state of the SCO, Putin dismissed assertions that the SCO could be perceived as a military alliance, arguing that it lacked a command and control structure. While this is presently the case, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov advocated strongly at an April 2006 meeting of SCO defense chiefs for the creation of just this sort of command center. Ivanov also called for the signing of a document by member states that would formally spell out the extent of their coordination. Putin, for his part, has called the SCO a guarantor of regional security, a formulation that clearly anticipates an increased military dimension to its activities. …”
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The Middle East