#12
gazeta.ru
May 22, 2002
Russian army fails to pass muster

On the very first day of the regular muster of top brass held in Moscow this week, Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov gave generals a severe dressing down for the lack of professionalism, initiative and purposefulness in the military and accused them of disrupting the winter military training season. It appears the castigation is aimed, first and foremost, at the chief of Russian General Staff Anatoly Kvashnin, a staunch opponent of military reforms.

The three-day gathering of Russias top military command, held at the Defence Ministry in Moscow, is to review the results of the armed forces military training in the course of the past six months, referred to as the ''winter period'', and to determine the key tasks for combat training during the summer period.

Sergei Ivanov addressed the top brass with a highly critical opening speech on Wednesday. ''Assessing the completed work, the Defence Ministry has come to the conclusion that the set tasks have not been achieved in full measure,'' the minister told his subordinates.

''The insufficient level of skills, lack of initiative and purposefulness in the actions of many representatives of army command on various levels have prevented us from making consistent progress,'' Ivanov claimed.

Ivanov directed his criticism at his deputies, heads of chief directorates of the Defence Ministry and the General Staff, as well as top army and navy commanders. But it appears that the ministers speech was addressed, first and foremost, to the chief of the Russias General Staff Anatoly Kvashnin.

Kvashnin is in charge of army training and therefore, is required to report to the Defence Minister on the results of army training for the winter period.

After long consideration and pressure from the Union of the Rightist Forces, President Putin has eventually ventured to launch military reforms, though at a much slower pace than the rightists suggested. Kvashnin and the General Staff that he heads are considered the main opponents of those reforms.

As a result, Ivanov, who is in charge of implementing the reform, found himself in an unenviable position. On the one hand, he is to carry out the presidents plans to abolish conscription by 2010 and to create a professional army and on the other hand, he is faced with the fierce resistance of Kvashnin and other generals.

This explains Ivanovs duality of attitude towards the reforms. On his tours to military districts, in front of TV cameras, he says that a professional army would cost the state huge amounts of money and is therefore absolutely impossible to implement quickly. And addressing the top brass, and especially Kvashnin, he blames them for all the Russian armys woes. The ministers speech at the muster is yet another example of this.

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