#6
Versiya
No. 47
December 11-17, 2001
CRITICAL MASS
There are too many armed formations in Russia
Author: Vadim Saranov
[from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html]

RUSSIA'S ARMIES: THE ARMED FORCES ARE THE LARGEST, COMMANDED BY THE DEFENSE MINISTER AND THE GENERAL STAFF. THE INTERIOR MINISTRY WITH ITS OWN ARMY, THE INTERNAL TROOPS, IS SECOND FROM THE TOP. THEN THERE IS THE FEDERAL BORDER GUARDS SERVICE, AND SMALLER FORCES WHICH ARE ALSO ARMED.

How many armies are there in Russia?

Large ones

How many armies are there in Russia? The Armed Forces are the largest, commanded by the defense minister and the General Staff. They comprise the Ground Forces, Navy, Strategic Missile Forces, Airborne Troops, and central command units. By rough estimates alone, the matter concerns over 1.2 million people - plus nuclear warheads, artillery, tanks, aircraft, ships, and satellites. Everything, in other words, that Russia would throw against a potential aggressor.

The Interior Ministry with its own army, the Internal Troops, is second from the top. The Internal Troops number over 200,000 servicemen and have light arms, light armored vehicles, and aviation (also light). And several special assignment units like the Vityaz regiment and Rus, Rosich, and Skif detachments. Other units of the Interior Ministry include OMON special assignment commandos and SOBR rapid-response detachments. They total several thousand men. OMON and SOBR include light arms and some armored personnel carriers.

Troops of the Federal Border Guards Service number almost 200,000 servicemen. They are supposed to be cut down to 183,000 by 2003 within the framework of reorganization of the Armed Forces. The Federal Border Guards Service includes ground and naval units plus several helicopters and transport planes.

Sergei Shoigu's Emergencies Ministry has a small army of its own too. It is called Civilian Defense Troops, numbering 30,000 men or so. There were the plans to up their numerical strength to 50,000 men but they collided with the general reduction tendency. The Emergencies Ministry also has several well-equipped special assignment detachments. Shoigu's structure has light armored vehicles, amphibians, helicopters, and transport planes. It also has light arms, sophisticated communications means, and systems of radiation and germ detection.

The list of troops (or small armies) is completed with Railroads Troops numbering 50,000 servicemen.

Small ones

Established in 1997, the Federal Service of Special Construction comprises the most exotic armed formations - Main Military Directorate of Exploitation and Restoration of the Ministry of Communications, Central Directorate of Military Construction Units of the Nuclear Energy Ministry, Federal Road-Building Service. The Federal Special Construction Service has just over 14,000 men.

The Main Directorate of the Special Programs of the President is somewhat larger. Special programs is an all-encompassing term. It may mean anything from mobilizational readiness of state power bodies to servicing special governmental objects. The Directorate has almost 20,000 men.

The Federal Protection Service serves the authorities too. It protects them. The Presidential Regiment is its fighting nucleus. It is more than a palace guard unit despite the widespread opinion. Even elite units of the Defense Ministry may envy intensiveness of its combat training. The numerical strength of the Federal Protection Service is over 3,000.

Smaller armed formations exist in the Federal Security Service. The matter concerns primarily the Special Assignment Center of the Counter-Terrorist Department of the Federal Security Service. The Center includes two special assignment units, Alpha and Vympel, and numbers between 1,500 and 2,000 men.

The Foreign Intelligence Service has its own special forces. The unit was formed in 1998 and called Zaslon. Different reports estimate its numerical strength at between 300 and 500 servicemen.

The Main Penitentiary Directorate of the Justice Ministry has special forces of its own to suppress prison riots. These detachments are used in Chechnya as well.

Special detachments of physical protection can be found within the Federal Tax Police Service and State Customs Committee. They are small special assignment units brandishing light arms. Again, reports on their numerical strength vary. It is generally believed, however, to be under 10,000 men.

Sum total

All in all, fourteen types of armed formations operating in Russia quite legitimately. Doesn't that seem like too many?

BACK TO THE TOP    #184 CONTENTS    NEXT SECTION