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114-878: 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 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

228-881: 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 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,

342-440: A modern regular army built on German model, but with a new aspect: officers not necessarily from nobility , as talented commoners were given promotions that eventually included a noble title at the attainment of an officer's rank. Conscription of peasants and townspeople was based on quota system, per settlement. Initially it was based on the number of households, later it was based on the population numbers. The term of service in

456-414: 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

570-530: A family. After that, men devoted their lives to war until their retirement at the age of 60. The Spartan Army was largely composed of hoplites , equipped with arms and armor nearly identical to each other. Each hoplite bore the Spartan emblem and a scarlet uniform. The main pieces of this armor were a round shield, a spear and a helmet. The Roman Army had its origins in the citizen army of the Republic , which

684-654: A former Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union, and Dmitri Yazov . Yazov was listed by the American analysts Scott and Scott in 2002 as a consultant to the (formerly 10th) Directorate for International Military Cooperation. Perhaps the first 'real' non-uniformed Defence Minister was Anatoly Serdyukov , appointed in February 2007. Serdyukov was a former Tax Minister with little siloviki or military associations beyond his two years of military service. Serdyukov launched

798-560: 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 ,

912-415: 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 a group of middle- and senior-ranking officers conducted a regimental map exercise

1026-582: 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

1140-701: 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

1254-654: 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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1368-445: 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

1482-512: A result of the sultan taking his traditional one-fifth share of his army's treasure they looted in kind rather than cash. From the 1380s onwards, their ranks were filled under the devşirme system, where feudal dues were paid by service to the sultan. The "recruits" were mostly Christian youths, reminiscent of mamluks . China organized the Manchu people into the Eight Banner system in

1596-519: 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

1710-447: 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

1824-675: 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

1938-513: A total standing army of around 6,000 men, which was sent out to gradually eliminate the remaining mercenaries who insisted on operating on their own. The new standing army had a more disciplined and professional approach to warfare than its predecessors. The reforms of the 1440s, eventually led to the French victory at Castillon in 1453, and the conclusion of the Hundred Years' War . By 1450

2052-576: 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

2166-707: 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

2280-668: Is the National Defense Management Center , located in the Main Building of the Ministry of Defense , built in the 1940s on Frunzenskaya Embankment . The current Minister of Defence is Andrey Belousov (since 14 May 2024). The U.S. Library of Congress Country Studies ' volume for Russia said in July 1996 that: [The] structure [...] does not imply military subordination to civilian authority in

2394-709: Is the basis of the modern bureaucratic state. The combination of increased taxes and increased centralization of government functions caused a series of revolts across Europe such as the Fronde in France and the English Civil War . In many countries, the resolution of this conflict was the rise of absolute monarchy . Only in England and the Netherlands did representative government evolve as an alternative. From

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2508-480: Is the military-theoretical journal of the Ministry of Defence, and Krasnaya Zvezda is its daily newspaper. Senior staff in 2024 included: Senior staff in 2021 included: Entities directly subordinated to the Minister of Defence in August 2012 included: The Office of Inspectors General of the Ministry of Defence was established in 2008, consisting of around thirty retired senior officers. The main task of

2622-794: Is understood in contrast to regular armies which grew slowly from personal bodyguards or elite militia . Regular in this case refers to standardized doctrines, uniforms, organizations, etc. Regular military can also refer to full-time status ( standing army ), versus reserve or part-time personnel. Other distinctions may separate statutory forces (established under laws such as the National Defence Act ), from de facto "non-statutory" forces such as some guerrilla and revolutionary armies. Armies may also be expeditionary (designed for overseas or international deployment) or fencible (designed for – or restricted to – homeland defence). Armies are always divided into various specialties, according to

2736-556: 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 a series of four terrorist bombings across Russia. This prompted Russian military action against

2850-583: The Fifth inauguration of Vladimir Putin on the 14th, Sergey Shoigu was released from duty and several of his staff were investigated for corruption or other misdeeds: Yuri Vasilievich Kuznetsov, Timur Ivanov , Ruslan Tsalikov , as well as Vadim Shamarin , Ivan Ivanovich Popov , Vladimir Verteletsky, and Sukhrab Akhmedov . On 17 June 2024, it was noted that four deputy defence ministers, Nikolay Pankov , Ruslan Tsalikov , Tatiana Shevtsova and Pavel Popov , had been sacked for nepotism that had entered

2964-674: The First United States Army and the Army of Northern Virginia . In the British Army it is normal to spell out the ordinal number of an army (e.g. First Army), whereas lower formations use figures (e.g. 1st Division). Armies (as well as army groups and theaters ) are large formations which vary significantly between armed forces in size, composition, and scope of responsibility. In the Soviet Red Army and

3078-857: The French Navy is an integral component of the collective French Armies ( French Armed Forces ) under the Ministry of the Armies . A similar pattern is seen in China, with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) being the overall military, the land force being the PLA Ground Force , and so forth for the PLA Air Force , the PLA Navy , and other branches. Though by convention, irregular military

3192-609: 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 the Soviet Union , Marshal Yevgeny Shaposhnikov , was appointed supreme commander of the CIS Armed Forces in December 1991. Among the numerous treaties signed by

3306-615: The Qin dynasty , attained absolute power. This first emperor of China could command the creation of a Terracotta Army to guard his tomb in the city of Xi'an (西安), as well as a realignment of the Great Wall of China to strengthen his empire against insurrection, invasion and incursion. Sun Tzu 's The Art of War remains one of China's Seven Military Classics , even though it is two thousand years old. Since no political figure could exist without an army, measures were taken to ensure only

3420-520: The Security Council of Russia , was appointed defence minister by President Vladimir Putin , becoming Russia's first non-uniformed civilian defence minister. Putin called the personnel changes in Russia's security structures coinciding with Ivanov's appointment as defence minister "a step toward demilitarizing public life." Putin also stressed Ivanov's responsibility for overseeing military reform as defence minister. What Putin did not emphasise

3534-597: 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 the scale of the withdrawal can be gained from the division list . For the dissolving Soviet Ground Forces, the withdrawal from

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3648-801: The Soviet Air Force , "Armies" could vary in size, but were subordinate to an Army Group -sized " front " in wartime. In peacetime, a Soviet army was usually subordinate to a military district . Viktor Suvorov 's Inside the Soviet Army describes how Cold War era Soviet military districts were actually composed of a front headquarters and a military district headquarters co-located for administration and deception ('maskirovika') reasons. In many countries, especially in Europe or North America, armies are often subdivided as follows: Ministry of Defence (Russia) The Ministry of Defence of

3762-533: The Warring States period , the crossbow had been perfected enough to become a military secret, with bronze bolts that could pierce any armor. Thus any political power of a state rested on the armies and their organization. China underwent political consolidation of the states of Han (韓) , Wei (魏) , Chu (楚) , Yan (燕) , Zhao (趙) and Qi (齊) , until by 221 BCE, Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇帝), the first emperor of

3876-519: The legions and filled roles that the traditional Roman military could not fill effectively, such as light skirmish troops and heavy cavalry . After their service in the army they were made citizens of Rome and then their children were citizens also. They were also given land and money to settle in Rome. In the Late Roman Empire , these auxiliary troops, along with foreign mercenaries, became

3990-564: The military reform in 2008 . On 19 August 2010, Serdyukov appointed Tatyana Shevtsova as his deputy. As of that date, more than 50 women had been appointed by Serdyukov, and mainly in the tax accountant profession. In 2012, he was substituted by General of the Army Sergey Shoigu , who held at that moment the position of the Minister of Civil Defence, Emergency Situations and Disaster Relief . In May 2024 simultaneous with

4104-741: The nation state was born. However, this would only become apparent after the French Revolutionary Wars . At this time, the levée en masse and conscription would become the defining paradigm of modern warfare . Before then, however, most national armies were in fact composed of many nationalities. In Spain armies were recruited from all the Spanish European territories including Spain, Italy, Wallonia ( Walloon Guards ) and Germany. The French recruited some soldiers from Germany, Switzerland as well as from Piedmont . Britain recruited Hessian and Hanovrian troops until

4218-444: The 18th century was for life. In 1793 it was reduced to 25 years. In 1834 it was reduced to 20 years plus 5 years in reserve and in 1855 to 12 years plus 3 years of reserve. The first Ottoman standing army were Janissaries . They replaced forces that mostly comprised tribal warriors ( ghazis ) whose loyalty and morale could not always be trusted. The first Janissary units were formed from prisoners of war and slaves, probably as

4332-470: 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

4446-747: The Army Pavel Grachev to the post of Minister of Defence. Despite intense criticism of Grachev's management of the First Chechen War and the Russian military establishment in general, Yeltsin retained Grachev till 18 June 1996. The new minister of defence became General of the Army Igor Rodionov , who subsequently was substituted by Marshal of the Russian Federation Igor Sergeyev . In March 2001, Sergei Ivanov , previously secretary of

4560-586: 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

4674-635: The French legislature, known as the Estates General (French: états généraux ), passed laws that restricted military recruitment and training to the king alone. There was a new tax to be raised known as the taille that was to provide funding for a new Royal army. The mercenary companies were given a choice of either joining the Royal army as compagnies d'ordonnance on a permanent basis, or being hunted down and destroyed if they refused. France gained

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4788-535: 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

4902-466: The Middle Ages progressed and feudalism developed in a legitimate social and economic system, knights started to develop into their own class with a minor caveat: they were still in debt to their lord. No longer primarily driven by economic need, the newly established vassal class were, instead, driven by fealty and chivalry . As central governments grew in power, a return to the citizen armies of

5016-607: 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

5130-420: The Ministry. Russian energy minister Sergey Tsivilyov 's wife, Anna Tsivileva , the daughter of a cousin of the President, was appointed deputy defence minister. Her responsibilities include improving social and housing support for military personnel. Leonid Gornin, previously the first deputy finance minister, was appointed as the first deputy defence minister. Other personnel changes included Oleg Savelyev and

5244-439: The MoD is conceivable, but the MoD without the General Staff is not." Russian General Staff officers exercise command authority in their own right. In 1996 the General Staff included fifteen main directorates and an undetermined number of operating agencies. The staff is organized by functions, with each directorate and operating agency overseeing a functional area, generally indicated by the organization's title. Military Thought

5358-410: 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

5472-405: The Russian Federation ( Russian : Министерство обороны Российской Федерации ; MOD ) is the governing body of the Russian Armed Forces . The President of Russia is the Commander-in-Chief of the forces and directs the activity of the ministry. The Minister of Defence exercises day-to-day administrative and operational authority over the forces. The General Staff of the Armed Forces executes

5586-498: 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 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

5700-470: 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

5814-408: The Scottish and English Armies would remain two separate organizations until the unification of England and Scotland in 1707. The small force was represented by only a few regiments. After the American Revolutionary War the Continental Army was quickly disbanded as part of the Americans' distrust of standing armies, and irregular state militias became the sole ground army of the United States, with

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5928-429: 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

6042-471: The Western sense [...]. The historical tradition of military command is considerably different in Russia. The tsars were educated as officers, and they regularly wore military uniforms and carried military ranks. Stalin always wore a military uniform, and he assumed the title generalissimo . Even General Secretary Leonid I. Brezhnev [...] appointed himself general of the army, and he encouraged portraits of himself in full uniform. By tradition dating back to

6156-588: 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

6270-448: 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

6384-423: The classical period also began, as central levies of the peasantry began to be the central recruiting tool. England was one of the most centralized states in the Middle Ages, and the armies that fought in the Hundred Years' War were, predominantly, composed of paid professionals. In theory, every Englishman had an obligation to serve for forty days. Forty days was not long enough for a campaign, especially one on

6498-399: The colloquial army from the formal concept of military force, the term is qualified, for example in France the land force is called Armée de terre , meaning Land Army , and the air and space force is called Armée de l'Air et de l’Espace , meaning Air and Space Army . The naval force, although not using the term "army", is also included in the broad sense of the term "armies" — thus

6612-441: The commanders of the Joint Strategic Commands/Military Districts, the three Services, and three branches, who together form the principal staff and advisory board of the Minister of Defence. The executive body of the Ministry of Defence is the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation , which is headed by the Chief of the General Staff . U.S. expert William Odom said in 1998 that "the Soviet General Staff without

6726-634: The companies were divided into the field army, known as the grande ordonnance and the garrison force known as the petite ordonnance . First nation states lacked the funds needed to maintain standing forces, so they tended to hire mercenaries to serve in their armies during wartime. Such mercenaries typically formed at the ends of periods of conflict, when men-at-arms were no longer needed by their respective governments. The veteran soldiers thus looked for other forms of employment, often becoming mercenaries. Free Companies would often specialize in forms of combat that required longer periods of training that

6840-474: The continent. Thus the scutage was introduced, whereby most Englishmen paid to escape their service and this money was used to create a permanent army. However, almost all high medieval armies in Europe were composed of a great deal of paid core troops, and there was a large mercenary market in Europe from at least the early 12th century. As the Middle Ages progressed in Italy, Italian cities began to rely mostly on mercenaries to do their fighting rather than

6954-475: The core of the Roman Army; moreover, by the time of the Late Roman Empire tribes such as the Visigoths were paid to serve as mercenaries . In the earliest Middle Ages it was the obligation of every aristocrat to respond to the call to battle with his own equipment, archers, and infantry. This decentralized system was necessary due to the social order of the time, but could lead to motley forces with variable training, equipment and abilities. The more resources

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7068-407: 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

7182-439: 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

7296-399: 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

7410-491: 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 the Ground Forces in 1994: The Russian barracks were spartan, with twenty beds lined up in

7524-442: The early 17th century. Defected Ming armies formed the Green Standard Army . These troops enlisted voluntarily and for long terms of service. Conscription allowed the French Republic to form the Grande Armée , what Napoleon Bonaparte called "the nation in arms", which successfully battled European professional armies. Conscription, particularly when the conscripts are being sent to foreign wars that do not directly affect

7638-483: 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

7752-635: The exception of one battery of artillery guarding West Point 's arsenal. Then First American Regiment was established in 1784. However, because of continuing conflict with Native Americans , it was soon realized that it was necessary to field a trained standing army. The first of these, the Legion of the United States , was established in 1791. Until 1733 the common soldiers of Prussian Army consisted largely of peasantry recruited or impressed from Brandenburg – Prussia , leading many to flee to neighboring countries. To halt this trend, Frederick William I divided Prussia into regimental cantons . Every youth

7866-419: 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

7980-421: 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

8094-415: 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 a large extent, created by relocating the formerly full-strength formations from Eastern Europe to under-resourced districts. However,

8208-500: 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) 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

8322-414: 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

8436-532: The instructions and orders of the president and the defence minister. The ministry is headquartered in the General Staff building , built-in 1979–1987 on Arbatskaya Square, near Arbat Street in Moscow. Other buildings of the ministry are located throughout Moscow. The supreme body responsible for the ministry's management and supervision of the Armed Forces and the centralization of the Armed Forces' command

8550-700: 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

8664-596: The late 17th century, states learned how to finance wars through long term low interest loans from national banking institutions. The first state to master this process was the Dutch Republic . This transformation in the armies of Europe had great social impact. The defense of the state now rested on the commoners, not on the aristocrats. However, aristocrats continued to monopolize the officer corps of almost all early modern armies, including their high command. Moreover, popular revolts almost always failed unless they had

8778-554: The late 18th century. Irish Catholics made careers for themselves in the armies of many Catholic European states. Prior to the English Civil War in England, the monarch maintained a personal bodyguard of Yeomen of the Guard and the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms , or "gentlemen pensioners", and a few locally raised companies to garrison important places such as Berwick on Tweed or Portsmouth (or Calais before it

8892-594: 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

9006-569: The militias that had dominated the early and high medieval period in this region. These would be groups of career soldiers who would be paid a set rate. Mercenaries tended to be effective soldiers, especially in combination with standing forces, but in Italy they came to dominate the armies of the city states. This made them considerably less reliable than a standing army. Mercenary-on-mercenary warfare in Italy also led to relatively bloodless campaigns which relied as much on maneuver as on battles. In 1439

9120-569: The mission, role, and training of individual units, and sometimes individual soldiers within a unit. Some of the groupings common to all armies include the following: The Battle of the Ten Kings , a Hindu Aryan king named Sudas defeated an alliance of ten kings and their supportive chieftains. During the Iron Age , the Maurya and Nanda Empires had one of the largest armies in the world,

9234-413: The most capable leaders could control the armies. Civil bureaucracies (士大夫) arose to control the productive power of the states, and their military power. The Spartan Army was one of the earliest known professional armies. Boys were sent to a barracks at the age of seven or eight to train for becoming a soldier. At the age of thirty, they were released from the barracks and allowed to marry and have

9348-450: The noble had access to, the better his troops would be. Initially, the words "knight" and "noble" were used interchangeably as there was not generally a distinction between them. While the nobility did fight upon horseback, they were also supported by lower class citizens – and mercenaries and criminals – whose only purpose was participating in warfare because, most often than not, they held brief employment during their lord's engagement. As

9462-407: The office is "to promote the organization of combat and operational training of troops, the construction and further development of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the development of the theory and history of military art, and the education of personnel." It is the successor to the Soviet Armed Forces 's Group of Inspectors General , which was dissolved in 1992. An outline structure of

9576-481: 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

9690-437: 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

9804-536: The peak being approximately over 600,000 Infantry, 30,000 Cavalry, 8,000 War-Chariots and 9,000 War Elephants not including tributary state allies. In the Gupta age, large armies of longbowmen were recruited to fight off invading horse archer armies. Elephants , pikemen , and cavalry were other featured troops. The states of China raised armies for at least 1000 years before the Spring and Autumn Annals . By

9918-492: 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

10032-495: 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

10146-434: 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

10260-622: 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

10374-478: 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

10488-611: The security of the nation, has historically been highly politically contentious in democracies. In developed nations, the increasing emphasis on technological firepower and better-trained fighting forces, make mass conscription unlikely in the foreseeable future. Russia, as well as many other nations, retains mainly a conscript army. There is also a very rare citizen army as used in Switzerland (see Military of Switzerland ). A particular army can be named or numbered to distinguish it from military land forces in general. For example,

10602-712: The signals corps and military communications. On 24 July the Deputy Chief of the Satellite Communications Center for Strategic Nuclear Missile Forces Andrei Torgashev was apparently victimized at his residence by a car bomb. The Ministry of Defence is managed by a collegium chaired by the Defence Minister and including the deputy Defence Ministers, heads of the Main Defence Ministry and General Staff Directorates,

10716-421: The son of former Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov . Pavel Fradkov would oversee the management of property, land and construction relating to the military. Other reports had Tsivileva as Putin's niece. On 18 July it was revealed that Lt Gen Shamarin had been formally dismissed from his post because he had accepted bribes from a supplier. He had been serving as deputy chief of the army’s general staff overseeing

10830-491: The support and patronage of the noble or gentry classes. The new armies, because of their vast expense, were also dependent on taxation and the commercial classes who also began to demand a greater role in society. The great commercial powers of the Dutch and English matched much larger states in military might. As any man could be quickly trained in the use of a musket, it became far easier to form massive armies. The inaccuracy of

10944-502: The tsars, the minister of defence normally is a uniformed officer. The State Duma also seats a large number of deputies who are active-duty military officers—another tradition that began in the Russian imperial era . These combinations of military and civilian authority ensure that military concerns are considered at the highest levels of the Russian government. On 18 May 1992, President of Russia Boris Yeltsin appointed General of

11058-413: 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

11172-554: 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 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

11286-539: 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

11400-422: The wake of the intense resentment Serduykov's reforms had generated. He did this a number of ways but one of the ways was integrating himself by wearing a military uniform . Army In some countries, such as France and China , the term "army", especially in its plural form "armies", has the broader meaning of armed forces as a whole, while retaining the colloquial sense of land forces. To differentiate

11514-409: The weapons necessitated large groups of massed soldiers. This led to a rapid swelling of the size of armies. For the first time huge masses of the population could enter combat, rather than just the highly skilled professionals. It has been argued that the drawing of men from across the nation into an organized corps helped breed national unity and patriotism, and during this period the modern notion of

11628-510: 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

11742-549: 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

11856-462: Was recaptured by France in 1558). Troops for foreign expeditions were raised upon an ad hoc basis. Noblemen and professional regular soldiers were commissioned by the monarch to supply troops, raising their quotas by indenture from a variety of sources. On January 26, 1661 Charles II issued the Royal Warrant that created the genesis of what would become the British Army , although

11970-499: Was Ivanov's long service within the KGB and FSB and his then rank of General-Lieutenant within the FSB. Such military and security agency-associated men are known as siloviki . As of 2002, there were four living Marshals of the Soviet Union . Such men are automatically Advisors to the Defence Minister. The Marshals alive at that time were Viktor Kulikov , Vasily Petrov , Sergei Sokolov ,

12084-419: 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

12198-413: 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

12312-570: 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

12426-541: 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,

12540-574: Was not available in the form of a mobilized militia. As late as the 1650s, most troops were mercenaries. However, after the 17th century, most states invested in better disciplined and more politically reliable permanent troops. For a time mercenaries became important as trainers and administrators, but soon these tasks were also taken by the state. The massive size of these armies required a large supporting force of administrators. The newly centralized states were forced to set up vast organized bureaucracies to manage these armies, which some historians argue

12654-617: 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

12768-473: Was required to serve as a soldier in these recruitment districts for three months each year; this met agrarian needs and added extra troops to bolster the regular ranks. Russian tsars before Peter I of Russia maintained professional hereditary musketeer corps ( streltsy in Russian) that were highly unreliable and undisciplined. In times of war the armed forces were augmented by peasants. Peter I introduced

12882-405: 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 the Ground Forces, were involved in a confrontation with NATO. Parts of

12996-458: Was staffed by citizens serving mandatory duty for Rome. Conscription remained the main method through which Rome mustered forces until the end of the Republic. The army eventually became a professional organization largely of citizens, who would served continuously for 25 years before being discharged. The Romans were also noted for making use of auxiliary troops , non-Romans who served with

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