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92-484: The Northern Fleet Joint Strategic Command was the third largest military-administered district by geographic size. It contained four federal subjects of Russia: Arkhangelsk Oblast , Komi Republic , Murmansk Oblast , and Nenets Autonomous Okrug . Additionally, the command contains most of Russia's islands in the Arctic Sea, including those located in federal subjects not within the district. The command's main aim

184-876: A series of four terrorist bombings across Russia. This prompted Russian military action against the alleged Chechen culprits. In the first Chechen war, the Russians primarily laid waste to an area with artillery and airstrikes before advancing the land forces. Improvements were made in the Ground Forces between 1996 and 1999; when the Second Chechen War started, instead of hastily assembled "composite regiments" dispatched with little or no training, whose members had never seen service together, formations were brought up to strength with replacements, put through preparatory training, and then dispatched. Combat performance improved accordingly, and large-scale opposition

276-416: A 20-percent rise authorised in 2001. The current professionalisation programme, including 26,000 extra sergeants , was expected to cost at least 31 billion roubles (US$ 1.1 billion). Increased funding has been spread across the whole budget, with personnel spending being matched by greater procurement and research and development funding. However, in 2004, Alexander Goltz said that, given the insistence of

368-417: A group of middle- and senior-ranking officers conducted a regimental map exercise was rudimentary, with young soldiers manning radio-telephones relaying orders to imaginary units in some imaginary field location. On the motor pool visit, I was able to crawl into a T-80 tank—it was cramped, dirty, and in poor repair—and even fire a few rounds in a very primitive simulator. In June 1999 Russian forces, though not

460-561: A haven for criminals, and a hard-line group within the Kremlin began advocating war. A Security Council meeting was held 29 November 1994, where Yeltsin ordered the Chechens to disarm, or else Moscow would restore order. Defence Minister Pavel Grachev assured Yeltsin that he would "take Grozny with one airborne assault regiment in two hours." The operation began on 11 December 1994 and, by 31 December, Russian forces were entering Grozny ,

552-660: A large extent, created by relocating the formerly full-strength formations from Eastern Europe to under-resourced districts. However, the facilities in those districts were inadequate to house the flood of personnel and equipment returning from abroad, and many units "were unloaded from the rail wagons into empty fields." The need for destruction and transfer of large amounts of weaponry under the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe also necessitated great adjustments. The Ministry of Defence newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda published

644-520: A majority only in three of them. Four of those territories have a second official language in addition to Russian: Buryat (in two of the merged territories), Komi-Permian , Koryak . This is an exception: all the other official languages of Russia (other than Russian) are set by the Constitutions of its constituent Republics ( Mordovia , Chechnya , Dagestan etc.). The status of the "administrative-territorial regions with special status" has been

736-715: A military district. In early 2024, it was announced that be subsumed into the wider, newly reconstituted Leningrad Military District . On 26 February 2024, by decision on President Vladimir Putin 's, the Leningrad Military District was separated from the Western Military District as a separate military-administrative unit of Russia, abolishing the Northern Fleet Joint Strategic Command, effective on 1 March. The Northern Fleet Joint Strategic Command

828-654: A mixed Ground Force, of both contract soldiers and conscripts, would remain. (As of 2009, the length of conscript service was 12 months.) Funding increases began in 1999. After some recovery of the economy and the associated rise in income, especially from oil, "..officially reported defence spending [rose] in nominal terms at least, for the first time since the formation of the Russian Federation". The budget rose from 141 billion rubles in 2000 to 219 billion rubles in 2001. Much of this funding has been spent on personnel—there have been several pay rises, starting with

920-701: A more comfortable posting. Beyond the Russian frontier, drugs were smuggled across the Tajik border—supposedly being patrolled by Russian guards—by military aircraft, and a Russian senior officer, General Major Alexander Perelyakin, had been dismissed from his post with the United Nations peacekeeping force in Bosnia-Hercegovina ( UNPROFOR ), following continued complaints of smuggling, profiteering, and corruption. In terms of contract killings, beyond

1012-593: A problem. Lack of fuel for training and a shortage of well-trained junior officers hampered combat effectiveness. However, concentrating on the interests of his old service, the Strategic Rocket Forces , Sergeyev directed the disbanding of the Ground Forces headquarters itself in December 1997. The disbandment was a "military nonsense", in Orr's words, "justifiable only in terms of internal politics within

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1104-509: A reform plan on 21 July 1992. Later one commentator said it was "hastily" put together by the General Staff "to satisfy the public demand for radical changes." The General Staff , from that point, became a bastion of conservatism, causing a build-up of troubles that later became critical. The reform plan advocated a change from an Army-Division-Regiment structure to a Corps-Brigade arrangement. The new structures were to be more capable in

1196-521: A situation with no front line, and more capable of independent action at all levels. Cutting out a level of command, omitting two out of three higher echelons between the theatre headquarters and the fighting battalions, would produce economies, increase flexibility, and simplify command-and-control arrangements. The expected changeover to the new structure proved to be rare, irregular, and sometimes reversed. The new brigades that appeared were mostly divisions that had broken down until they happened to be at

1288-448: A statement on 4 September 2009, RGF Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Boldyrev said that half of the Russian land forces were reformed by 1 June and that 85 brigades of constant combat preparedness had already been created. Among them are the combined-arms brigade, missile brigades, assault brigades and electronic warfare brigades. During General Mark Hertling 's term as Commander, United States Army Europe in 2011–2012, he visited Russia at

1380-481: A subject of criticism because it does not appear in the Constitution of the Russian Federation. In addition to those six territories that entirely ceased to be subjects of the Russian Federation and were downgraded to territories with special status, another three subjects have a status of subject but are simultaneously part of a more populated subject: With an estimated population of 49348 as of 2018, Chukotka

1472-675: A time, but the fighting continued. Following this incident, the separatists were referred to as insurgents or terrorists within Russia. Dzhokar Dudayev was assassinated in a Russian airstrike on 21 April 1996, and that summer, a Chechen attack retook Grozny . Alexander Lebed , then Secretary of the Security Council, began talks with the Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov in August 1996 and signed an agreement on 22/23 August; by

1564-699: A wide understanding of international affairs. Thus, the generals—focused on NATO expansion in Eastern Europe—could not adapt themselves and the Armed Forces to the new opportunities and challenges they faced. The new Russian Ground Forces inherited an increasing crime problem from their Soviet predecessors. As draft resistance grew in the last years of the Soviet Union, the authorities tried to compensate by enlisting men with criminal records and who spoke little or no Russian. Crime rates soared, with

1656-468: Is currently the least populated subject of Russia that is not part of a more populated subject. It was separated from Magadan Oblast in 1993. Chukotka is one of the richest subjects of Russia (with a Gross Regional Product [GRP] per capita equivalent to that of Australia) and therefore does not fit in the pattern of merging a subject to benefit from the economic dynamism of the neighbour. In 1992, Ingushetia separated from Chechnya , both to stay away from

1748-709: Is more, the order is being enforced, with several prosecutions recorded. President Putin also demanded a halt to dishonest use of military property in November 2005: "We must completely eliminate the use of the Armed Forces' material base for any commercial objectives." The spectrum of dishonest activity has included, in the past, exporting aircraft as scrap metal; but the point at which officers are prosecuted has shifted, and investigations over trading in travel warrants and junior officers' routine thieving of soldiers' meals are beginning to be reported. However, British military analysts comment that "there should be little doubt that

1840-724: Is responsible for the air defence of the arctic. From the command's formation in December 2014 to December 2020, it has been accustomed to have the serving commander of the Russian Northern Fleet as commander of the leadership of the Joint Strategic Command as well. By January 2021, after the transition from military command to district, the leadership was upgraded to the level of the Military District commander. Federal subjects The federal subjects of Russia , also referred to as

1932-501: The Constitution of Russia from Russian to English uses the term "constituent entities of the Russian Federation". For example, Article 5 reads: "The Russian Federation shall consist of republics , krais , oblasts , cities of federal significance , an autonomous oblast , and autonomous okrugs , which shall have equal rights as constituent entities of the Russian Federation." A translation provided by Garant-Internet instead uses

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2024-618: The Federal Assembly . They differ in the degree of autonomy they enjoy; republics are offered more autonomy. Post-Soviet Russia formed during the history of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic within the USSR and did not change at the time of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. In 1992, during the so-called " parade of sovereignties ", separatist sentiments and

2116-519: The War of Laws within Russia, the Russian regions signed the Federation Treaty ( Russian : Федеративный договор , romanized :  Federativnyy dogovor ), establishing and regulating the current inner composition of Russia, based on the division of authorities and powers among Russian government bodies and government bodies of constituent entities. The Federation Treaty was included in

2208-572: The subjects of the Russian Federation ( Russian : субъекты Российской Федерации , romanized :  subyekty Rossiyskoy Federatsii ) or simply as the subjects of the federation ( Russian : субъекты федерации , romanized :  subyekty federatsii ), are the constituent entities of Russia , its top-level political divisions. According to the Constitution of Russia , the federation consists of republics , krais , oblasts , cities of federal importance , an autonomous oblast , and autonomous okrugs , all of which are equal subjects of

2300-568: The 1st and 3rd Air Defence Divisions, and at least 6 other aircraft regiments, including the 100th and 279th Shipborne Fighter Aviation Regiments, and the 73rd Anti-Submarine Squadron Long Range of Tupolev Tu-142s . According to a report from the Institute for the Study of War , in March 2018 the command comprised: The 3rd Air Defence Division was formed in 2019 and became operational in 2020. It

2392-419: The 2000s, following the policies of Vladimir Putin and of the ruling United Russia party, the Russian parliament changed the distribution of tax revenues, reduced the number of elections in the regions and gave more power to the federal authorities. The Russian Federation was composed of 89 federal subjects in 1993. Mergers reduced the number to 83 by 2008. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, with

2484-539: The 531st, 583rd, and 1258th Air Defence Regiments, the 331st and 332nd Radio-Technical Regiments, with other units stationed in Murmansk, Chukotka and Arkhangelsk Oblasts . Air Force Commander-in-Chief Colonel-General Viktor Bondarev said in an interview that by 2017 the Tiksi airport complex will be operational, and it will be garrisoned with upgraded MiG-31 interceptors. A number of redesignations from 2014 changed

2576-821: The Arctic. According to the Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces , Colonel General Oleg Salyukov , an Arctic motorized rifle brigade is, as of October 2014, under formation in the Murmansk Oblast , near the Norwegian border, while the second brigade is scheduled for 2016 to be stationed in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug . The 45th Air and Air Defence Forces Army is the principal air force formation assigned to

2668-472: The Armed Forces were controllable and loyal, rather than reformed. Secondly, declining funding worsened the progress. Finally, there was no firm consensus within the military about what reforms should be implemented. General Pavel Grachev , the first Russian Minister of Defence (1992–96), broadly advertised reforms, yet wished to preserve the old Soviet-style Army, with large numbers of low-strength formations and continued mass conscription. The General Staff and

2760-586: The Chechen capital. The 131st Motor Rifle Brigade was ordered to make a swift push for the centre of the city, but was then virtually destroyed in Chechen ambushes. After finally seizing Grozny amid fierce resistance, Russian troops moved on to other Chechen strongholds. When Chechen militants took hostages in the Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis in Stavropol Kray in June 1995, peace looked possible for

2852-665: The Corps consist of 2 Arctic motorized infantry brigades: Coastal Troops of the Northern Fleet ( Береговые войска Северного флота ) The two arctic motor rifle brigades are expected to accomplish coast patrolling missions, protect sites and territories on the coast of the northern seas and the Arctic Ocean, support and escort ships sailing along the Northern Sea Route, and demonstrate the military presence in

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2944-611: The General Staff Valery Gerasimov also said that a specialised training centre will be set up for servicemen performing military service in the Arctic Region in 2015. See: Northern Fleet Order of Battle . The Coastal Troops of the Northern Fleet ( Береговые войска Северного флота ) are the fleet's ground combat element. They include marines, coastal motor rifle infantry and coastal anti-ship missile and artillery elements. The principal brigades of

3036-425: The Ground Forces in 1994: The Russian barracks were spartan, with twenty beds lined up in a large room similar to what the U.S. Army had during World War II. The food in their mess halls was terrible. The Russian "training and exercises" we observed were not opportunities to improve capabilities or skills, but rote demonstrations, with little opportunity for maneuver or imagination. The military college classroom where

3128-680: The Ground Forces is officially tasked with the following objectives: It should be clearly noted that Spetsnaz GRU , most special forces, are under the control of the Main Reconnaissance Directorate (GRU), now the Main Directorate of the General Staff . As the Soviet Union dissolved, efforts were made to keep the Soviet Armed Forces as a single military structure for the new Commonwealth of Independent States . The last Minister of Defence of

3220-529: The Ground Forces, were involved in a confrontation with NATO. Parts of the 1st Separate Airborne Brigade of the Russian Airborne Forces raced to seize control of Pristina Airport in what became Kosovo , leading to the Incident at Pristina airport . The Second Chechen War began in August 1999 after Chechen militias invaded neighboring Dagestan , followed quickly in early September by

3312-537: The Kholodov case, there have been widespread rumours that GRU Spetsnaz personnel have been moonlighting as mafiya hitmen. Reports such as these continued. Some of the more egregious examples have included a constant-readiness motor rifle regiment's tanks running out of fuel on the firing ranges, due to the diversion of their fuel supplies to local businesses. Visiting the 20th Army in April 2002, Sergey Ivanov said

3404-665: The Ministry of Defence". The Ground Forces' prestige declined as a result, as the headquarters disbandment implied—at least in theory—that the Ground Forces no longer ranked equally with the Air Force and Navy. Under President Vladimir Putin , more funds were committed, the Ground Forces Headquarters was reestablished, and some progress on professionalisation occurred. Plans called for reducing mandatory service to 18 months in 2007, and to one year by 2008, but

3496-619: The Northern Fleet as a "joint territorial formation" of the Russian Armed Forces, performing the functions of a military district. Accordingly, the Arkhangelsk and Murmansk Oblasts, Komi Republic, and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug were removed from the area of responsibility of the Western Military District and placed under the Northern Fleet. Airfields and ports on several islands, which were last used by

3588-500: The Northern Fleet. As of 2021, fighter units consist of several regiments with a combination of MiG-29 , MiG-31 , Su-24 , Su-25 , Su-27 , Su-33 and Su-34 fighter and strike aircraft. Additional Anti-submarine, ISTAR and transport aircraft and helicopters are also deployed within the Air Army. The 40th Mixed Aviation Regiment, flying Backfire bombers , is also deployed within the Northern Fleet operational area but remains under

3680-480: The Prosecutor General. Fridinsky also lambasted the military investigations department for their alleged lack of efficiency in investigative matters, with only one in six criminal cases being revealed. Military commanders were also accused of concealing crimes committed against servicemen from military officials. A major corruption scandal also occurred at the elite Lipetsk pilot training center , where

3772-459: The Russian Federation is more appropriate than subject of the Russian Federation ( subject would be OK for a monarchy)". Each federal subject belongs to one of the following types: a. The largest city is also listed when it is different from the capital/administrative centre. b. According to Article 13 of the Charter of Leningrad Oblast, the governing bodies of

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3864-596: The Russian constitutional crisis of 1993 after President Yeltsin issued an unconstitutional decree dissolving the Russian Parliament, following its resistance to Yeltsin's consolidation of power and his neo-liberal reforms. A group of deputies, including Vice President Alexander Rutskoi , barricaded themselves inside the parliament building. While giving public support to the President, the Armed Forces, led by General Grachev, tried to remain neutral, following

3956-471: The Russian government claiming Sevastopol and the Republic of Crimea to be the 84th and 85th federal subjects of Russia, a move that is not recognized internationally. During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine , four Ukrainian oblasts were annexed by Russia, though they remain internationally recognized as part of Ukraine and are only partially occupied by Russia. An official government translation of

4048-520: The Soviet Union , Marshal Yevgeny Shaposhnikov , was appointed supreme commander of the CIS Armed Forces in December 1991. Among the numerous treaties signed by the former republics, in order to direct the transition period, was a temporary agreement on general purpose forces, signed in Minsk on 14 February 1992. However, once it became clear that Ukraine (and potentially the other republics)

4140-797: The Soviet Union, will be re-opened: the 'Temp Air Base' on ( Kotelny Island ) in New Siberian Islands , Rogachevo Air Base on Novaya Zemlya and the Nagurskoye Air Base in the Franz Josef Land archipelago. In addition, a new naval base on Wrangel Island was to be built, using prefabricated modules . In addition, at least seven airfields on the continental part of the Arctic Circle will be opened or re-opened, with Tiksi in Yakutia expected to house

4232-430: The U.S. Foreign Military Studies Office went as far as to say that the Armed Forces were "an institution increasingly defined by the high levels of military criminality and corruption embedded within it at every level." The FMSO noted that crime levels had always grown with social turbulence, such as the trauma Russia was passing through. The author identified four major types among the raft of criminality prevalent within

4324-587: The apparent order of battle. Air and Space Defence Brigades were changed back to the familiar nomenclature of Air Defence Divisions, and thus the 1st Air Defence Division (Russia) was reformed. The 1st Air and Air Defence Forces Command returned to the previous title 6th Air and Air Defence Forces Army . In January 2016, Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu announced that the Northern Fleet 45th Air and Air Defence Army ( ru:45-я армия ВВС и ПВО Северного флота) had been formed in December 2015. The force includes

4416-449: The armed services tried to preserve Soviet-era doctrines, deployments, weapons, and missions in the absence of solid new guidance. British military expert Michael Orr claims that the hierarchy had great difficulty in fully understanding the changed situation, due to their education. As graduates of Soviet military academies , they received great operational and staff training, but in political terms they had learned an ideology, rather than

4508-476: The bulk of the Arctic air force. Other continental airfields include Naryan-Mar Airport , Alykel Airport close to the city of Norilsk and Mys Shmidta and Ugolny Airport , both located in Chukotka . As of 7 January 2015, the commander of the Northern Fleet reportedly envisaged a series of coordination-improving tasks, including submarine underwater operations, assigned to cruise vessels. Russian Chief of

4600-748: The collapse of oil prices stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic . The process was scrapped on 2 July due to its unpopularity among the population. Russian Ground Forces The Russian Ground Forces , also known as the Russian Army in English, are the land forces of the Russian Armed Forces . The primary responsibilities of the Russian Ground Forces are the protection of the state borders, combat on land, and

4692-495: The command of Russian Long-Range Aviation Forces . Air defence elements are said to consist of Pantsir-S1 missile and artillery systems, which have been put on duty on the Kotelnyy Island of the New Siberian Islands archipelago in 2014. The deployment of intermediate and long-range air defence systems in this area has also been planned. The command involved was the 1st Air and Air Defence Forces Command , including

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4784-409: The country and that, at the same time, they are also dangerous for Russia. Top military personnel demonstrate neither the will nor the ability to effect fundamental changes." More money is arriving both for personnel and equipment; Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin stated in June 2008 that monetary allowances for servicemen in permanent-readiness units will be raised significantly. In May 2007, it

4876-606: The defeat of enemy troops. The President of Russia is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation . The Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces is the chief commanding authority of the Russian Ground Forces. He is appointed by the President of Russia. The Main Command of the Ground Forces is based in Moscow . The primary responsibilities of the Russian Ground Forces are

4968-516: The deputy commander, the chief of staff and other officers allegedly extorted 3 million roubles of premium pay from other officers since the beginning of 2010. The Tambov military garrison prosecutor confirmed that charges have been lodged against those involved. The affair came to light after a junior officer wrote about the extortion in his personal blog. Sergey Fridinskiy, the Main Military Prosecutor acknowledged that extortion in

5060-400: The distribution of supplementary pay in army units is common, and that "criminal cases on the facts of extortion are being investigated in practically every district and fleet." In August 2012, Prosecutor General Fridinsky again reported a rise in crime, with murders rising more than half, bribery cases doubling, and drug trafficking rising by 25% in the first six months of 2012 as compared to

5152-469: The drafted private." The Ground Forces' performance in the First Chechen War has been assessed by a British academic as "appallingly bad". Writing six years later, Michael Orr said "one of the root causes of the Russian failure in 1994–96 was their inability to raise and deploy a properly trained military force." Then Lieutenant Colonel Mark Hertling of the U.S. Army had the chance to visit

5244-664: The end of that month, the fighting ended. The formal ceasefire was signed in the Dagestani town of Khasavyurt on 31 August 1996, stipulating that a formal agreement on relations between the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and the Russian federal government need not be signed until late 2001. Writing some years later, Dmitri Trenin and Aleksei Malashenko described the Russian military's performance in Chechniya as "grossly deficient at all levels, from commander-in-chief to

5336-588: The federal subjects were merged into larger territories. In this process, six very sparsely populated subjects (comprising in total 0.3% of the population of Russia) were integrated into more populated subjects, with the hope that the economic development of those territories would benefit from the much larger means of their neighbours. The merging process was finished on 1 March 2008. No new mergers have been planned since March 2008. The six territories became "administrative-territorial regions with special status". They have large proportions of minorities, with Russians being

5428-402: The federation. Every federal subject has its own head , a parliament , and a constitutional court. Each subject has its own constitution or charter and legislation, although the authority of these organs differ. Subjects have equal rights in relations with federal government bodies. The subjects have equal representation – two delegates each – in the Federation Council , the upper house of

5520-422: The forces—weapons trafficking and the arms trade; business and commercial ventures; military crime beyond Russia's borders; and contract murder. Weapons disappearances began during the dissolution of the Union and has continued. Within units "rations are sold while soldiers grow hungry ... [while] fuel, spare parts, and equipment can be bought." Meanwhile, voyemkomats take bribes to arrange avoidance of service, or

5612-413: The former code of 20 for the Chechen Republic was cancelled and replaced with code 95. License plate production was suspended due to the Chechen Wars, causing numerous issues, which in turn forced the region to use a new code. f. Claimed, but only partially controlled by Russia. g. As Russia only partially controls the region, this is a claimed figure. Starting in 2005, some of

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5704-517: The growing violence in Chechnya and as a bid to obtain the Eastern part of Northern Ossetia (it did not work: the Chechen conflict spread violence to Ingushetia, and North Ossetia retained its Prigorodny District ). Those two Muslim republics, populated in vast majority (95%+) by closely related Vainakh people , speaking Vainakhish languages , remain the two poorest subjects of Russia, with the GRP per capita of Ingushetia being equivalent to that of Iraq. According to 2016 statistics, however, they are also

5796-415: The hierarchy on trying to force contract soldiers into the old conscript pattern, there is little hope of a fundamental strengthening of the Ground Forces. He further elaborated that they are expected to remain, to some extent, a military liability and "Russia's most urgent social problem" for some time to come. Goltz summed up by saying: "All of this means that the Russian armed forces are not ready to defend

5888-526: The invitation of the Commander of the Ground Forces, "Colonel-General (corresponding to an American lieutenant general) Aleksandr Streitsov . ..[A]t preliminary meetings" with the Embassy of the United States, Moscow , the U.S. Defence Attache told Hertling that the Ground Forces "while still substantive in quantity, continued to decline in capability and quality. My subsequent visits to the schools and units [Colonel General] Streitsov chose reinforced these conclusions. The classroom discussions were sophomoric, and

5980-419: The military procurator in Moscow in September 1990 reporting a 40-percent increase in crime over the previous six months, including a 41-percent rise in serious bodily injuries. Disappearances of weapons rose to rampant levels, especially in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. Generals directing the withdrawals from Eastern Europe diverted arms, equipment, and foreign monies intended to build housing in Russia for

6072-513: The oblast are located in the city of Saint Petersburg . However, Saint Petersburg is not officially the administrative centre of the oblast. c. According to Article 24 of the Charter of Moscow Oblast, the governing bodies of the oblast are located in the city of Moscow and throughout the territory of Moscow Oblast. However, Moscow is not officially the administrative centre of the oblast. d. Internationally recognized as part of Ukraine. e. In February 2000,

6164-431: The overall impact of theft and fraud is much greater than that which is actually detected". Chief Military Prosecutor Sergey Fridinskiy said in March 2007 that there was "no systematic work in the Armed Forces to prevent embezzlement". In March 2011, Military Prosecutor General Sergei Fridinsky reported that crimes had been increasing steadily in the Russian ground forces for the past 18 months, with 500 crimes reported in

6256-438: The parliament building had been stormed, the parliamentary leaders arrested, and temporary censorship imposed, Yeltsin succeeded in retaining power. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Chechens declared independence in November 1991, under the leadership of a former Air Forces officer, General Dzhokar Dudayev . The continuation of Chechen independence was seen as reducing Moscow's authority; Chechnya became perceived as

6348-493: The period of January to March 2011 alone. Twenty servicemen were crippled and two killed in the same period as a result. Crime in the ground forces was up 16% in 2010 as compared to 2009, with crimes against other servicemen constituting one in every four cases reported. Compounding this problem was also a rise in "extremist" crimes in the ground forces, with " servicemen from different ethnic groups or regions trying to enforce their own rules and order in their units ", according to

6440-419: The proposed brigade strengths. New divisions—such as the new 3rd Motor Rifle Division in the Moscow Military District , formed on the basis of disbanding tank formations—were formed, rather than new brigades. Few of the reforms planned in the early 1990s eventuated, for three reasons: Firstly, there was an absence of firm civilian political guidance, with President Yeltsin primarily interested in ensuring that

6532-440: The protection of the state borders, combat on land, the security of occupied territories, and the defeat of enemy troops. The Ground Forces must be able to achieve these goals both in nuclear war and non-nuclear war, especially without the use of weapons of mass destruction . Furthermore, they must be capable of protecting the national interests of Russia within the framework of its international obligations. The Main Command of

6624-435: The reorganization, the 4-chain command structure ( military district – field army – division – regiment ) that was used until then was replaced with a 3-chain structure: strategic command – operational command – brigade. Brigades are supposed to be used as mobile permanent-readiness units capable of fighting independently with the support of highly mobile task forces or together with other brigades under joint command. In

6716-499: The safest regions of Russia, and also have the lowest alcohol consumption, with alcohol poisoning at least 40 times lower than the federal average. Until 1994, Sokolsky District, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast was part of Ivanovo Oblast . In 2011–2012, the territory of Moscow increased by 140% (to 2,511 km (970 sq mi)) by acquiring part of Moscow Oblast . On 13 May 2020, the governors of Arkhangelsk Oblast and Nenets Autonomous Okrug announced their plan to merge following

6808-623: The same period in the previous year. Following the release of these statistics, the Union of the Committees of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia denounced the conditions in the Armed Forces as a "crime against humanity". In July 2013, the Prosecutor General of Russia 's office revealed that corruption in the same year had grown 5.5 times as compared to the previous year, costing the Russian government 4.4 billion rubles (US$ 130 million). It

6900-465: The same source point out that the Russian Armed Forces faced major disruption in 2008, as demographic change hindered plans to reduce the term of conscription from two years to one. A major reorganisation of the force began in 2007 by the Minister for Defence Anatoliy Serdyukov , with the aim of converting all divisions into brigades, and cutting surplus officers and establishments. In the course of

6992-515: The scale of the withdrawal can be gained from the division list . For the dissolving Soviet Ground Forces, the withdrawal from the former Warsaw Pact states and the Baltic states was an extremely demanding, expensive, and debilitating process. As the military districts that remained in Russia after the collapse of the Union consisted mostly of the mobile cadre formations, the Ground Forces were, to

7084-409: The term "subjects of the Russian Federation". Tom Fennell, a translator, told the 2008 American Translators Association conference that "constituent entity of the Russian Federation" is a better translation than "subject". This was supported by Tamara Nekrasova, Head of Translation Department at Goltsblat BLP , who said in a 2011 presentation at a translators conference that " constituent entity of

7176-514: The text of the 1978 Constitution of the Russian SFSR . The current Constitution of Russia, adopted by federal referendum on 12 December 1993, came into force on 25 December 1993 and abolished the model of the Soviet system of government introduced in 1918 by Vladimir Lenin and based on the right to secede from the country and on unlimited sovereignty of federal subjects (in practice secession

7268-469: The units in training were going through the motions of their scripts with no true training value or combined arms interaction—infantry, armor, artillery, air, and resupply all trained separately." After Sergey Shoygu took over the role of Ministry of Defence , the reforms Serdyukov had implemented were reversed. He also aimed to restore trust with senior officers as well as the Ministry of Defence in

7360-541: The volume of theft was "simply impermissible". Ivanov said that 20,000 servicemen were wounded or injured in 2002 as a result of accidents or criminal activity across the entire armed forces - so the ground forces figure would be less. Abuse of personnel, sending soldiers to work outside units—a long-standing tradition which could see conscripts doing things ranging from being large scale manpower supply for commercial businesses to being officers' families' servants—is now banned by Sergei Ivanov's Order 428 of October 2005. What

7452-513: The wishes of the officer corps. The military leadership were unsure of both the rightness of Yeltsin's cause and the reliability of their forces, and had to be convinced at length by Yeltsin to attack the parliament. When the attack was finally mounted, forces from five different divisions around Moscow were used, and the personnel involved were mostly officers and senior non-commissioned officers . There were also indications that some formations deployed into Moscow only under protest. However, once

7544-730: The withdrawn troops. Several years later, the former commander in Germany, General Matvey Burlakov , and the Defence Minister, Pavel Grachev , had their involvement exposed. They were also accused of ordering the murder of reporter Dmitry Kholodov , who had been investigating the scandals. In December 1996, Defence Minister Igor Rodionov ordered the dismissal of the Commander of the Ground Forces, General Vladimir Semyonov , for activities incompatible with his position — reportedly his wife's business activities. A 1995 study by

7636-421: Was also revealed that total number of registered crimes in the Russian armed forces had declined in the same period, although one in five crimes registered were corruption-related. "In 2019, Chief Military Prosecutor Valery Petrov reported that some $ 110 million had been lost due to corruption in the military departments and the number was on the uptick." The Russian Ground Forces reluctantly became involved in

7728-414: Was announced that enlisted pay would rise to 65,000 roubles (US$ 2,750) per month, and the pay of officers on combat duty in rapid response units would rise to 100,000–150,000 roubles (US$ 4,230–$ 6,355) per month. However, while the move to one year conscript service would disrupt dedovshchina , it is unlikely that bullying will disappear altogether without significant societal change. Other assessments from

7820-571: Was crippled. Most of the prominent past Chechen separatist leaders had died or been killed, including former President Aslan Maskhadov and leading warlord and terrorist attack mastermind Shamil Basayev . However, small-scale conflict continued to drag on; as of November 2007, it had spread across other parts of the Russian Caucasus . It was a divisive struggle, with at least one senior military officer dismissed for being unresponsive to government commands: General Colonel Gennady Troshev

7912-479: Was determined to undermine the concept of joint general purpose forces and form their own armed forces, the new Russian government moved to form its own armed forces. Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed a decree forming the Russian Ministry of Defence on 7 May 1992, establishing the Russian Ground Forces along with the other branches of the Russian Armed Forces . At the same time, the General Staff

8004-544: Was dismissed in 2002 for refusing to move from command of the North Caucasus Military District to command of the less important Siberian Military District. The Second Chechen War was officially declared ended on 16 April 2009. When Igor Sergeyev arrived as Minister of Defence in 1997, he initiated what were seen as real reforms under very difficult conditions. The number of military educational establishments, virtually unchanged since 1991,

8096-547: Was established on 1 December 2014 when it was split off from the Western Military District , initially as Russia's only joint military command to give greater autonomy to the Russian Navy 's Northern Fleet . The military command was given the status of a military district on 1 January 2021, according to a Decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on 5 June 2020. The decree established

8188-964: Was in the process of withdrawing tens of thousands of personnel from the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany , the Northern Group of Forces in Poland, the Central Group of Forces in Czechoslovakia, the Southern Group of Forces in Hungary, and from Mongolia. Thirty-seven Soviet Ground Forces divisions had to be withdrawn from the four groups of forces and the Baltic States, and four military districts—totaling 57 divisions—were handed over to Belarus and Ukraine. Some idea of

8280-491: Was never allowed), which conflicts with the country's integrity and federal laws. The new constitution eliminated a number of legal conflicts, reserved the rights of the regions, introduced local self-government and did not grant the Soviet-era right to secede from the country. In the late 1990s and early 2000s the political system became de jure closer to other modern federal states with a republican form of government . In

8372-618: Was reduced, and the amalgamation of the Siberian and Trans-Baikal Military Districts was ordered. A larger number of army divisions were given "constant readiness" status, which was supposed to bring them up to 80 percent manning and 100 percent equipment holdings. Sergeyev announced in August 1998 that there would be six divisions and four brigades on 24-hour alert by the end of that year. Three levels of forces were announced; constant readiness, low-level, and strategic reserves. However, personnel quality—even in these favored units—continued to be

8464-525: Was to concentrate all military responsibility over Russia's territories in the Arctic as well as secure all Russian interests and power projection in the region. The command was headquartered in Severomorsk , and its former military commander is Admiral Aleksandr Moiseyev , who held the position since 3 May 2019. In October 2023 a decree was prepared to strip the Northern Fleet of its special status as

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