Vladimir Putin and military reform in Russia

Abstract:

While it is only a beginning, Vladimir Putin has begun to take the first real steps toward reforming the Russian military. The reform plan is in place, funding has increased, some weapons modernization has begun, and most importantly, Putin placed the Chief of the General Staff back under the Defence Minister and re-wrote the General Staff's mission statement to move operational matters to the Defence Ministry. The key question is whether or not Putin will have sufficient time to make his reforms irreversible. The effort to professionalize the military has a long way to go, dedovshchina, corruption, crime, housing, pay, training all remain serious obstacles to developing a modem military, but compared with Gorbachev, who was not interested in the military or Yeltsin, who starved and undermined it, Putin seems to understand its importance and appears committed to dealing with some of its problems.