#19 - RW 10-15-04 - RW Home
Mosnews.com/Gazeta.ru
www.MosNews.com
October 12, 2004
War Secrets of Ineffectiveness
Yevgeny Natarov

Next year Russia will boost its military spending. This is inevitable, maintains Vitaly Tsymbal, head of the military economy lab at the Institute for Economy in Transition. What is important is to ensure that those funds are spent efficiently, which is possible only under conditions of transparency and effective control over spending. Furthermore, the 2005 military budget parameters will disrupt the vitally important army conscription reform.

Vitaly Ivanovich, what is your opinion of the military expense items in the 2005 budget?

I and my colleagues at the military economy lab had expected much more from the budget than we saw. It was preceded by a government decree reading that the concept of the 2005 budget would be absolutely different [from previous years], that the budget would be result-oriented. Then, there was the budget address of the president, containing two theses. Firstly, a “transparent military economy is a necessary condition for reform,” and, secondly, “civil control over the effectiveness of the ongoing army reforms must be compulsory”.

As we know, military spending includes expenses on national defense and partially on ensuring security and law enforcement activities, allocated to border guard troops and the troops of the Interior Ministry.

In line with the 2005 budget plan, defense expenses will amount to 2.8 percent of GDP. Considering the ever increasing threat of international terrorism one could have expected those figures to be higher. National defense expenses have increased nominally by 28 percent, or some 17 percent if adjusted for inflation.

But, unfortunately, we have never seen or heard Defense Ministry officials say what they will use the increased financing on.

As for the positive sides that we have seen in the draft budget, it should be noted that expenditure on the social security of military servicemen has increased. Russia plans to increase the financial allowances for army servicemen, launch a mortgage accumulative program, build housing for officers and to allocate funds for the transition to a contract-based military service. Certain attention is being paid to scientific research and development work… And that is all I have to say about the positive aspects of the draft.

The military budget remains as closed as ever. 43 percent of the items of national defense expenditure are confidential. The public is denied access to 34 percent of data on army maintenance expenses, 45 percent of the data on military and technical cooperation expenses, and nearly 100 percent of the information concerning scientific research work.

According to the law on state secrets, only three items of budget expenditure are subject to classification, i.e. expenses on intelligence, counter-intelligence and investigative activities. Unfortunately, the authors of the budget have again failed to abide by that rule.

What will the increased financing be spent on?

This is exactly what we have no access to. Therefore, I cannot answer your question.

Will public control over the forthcoming increase in spending be possible?

Spending will increase anyway. This is inevitable. What is important is that those means must be used efficiently. That is why it is crucial for the budget to be open. Let me cite an example. Let’s assume we are hit by flu epidemics, and we need to spend money to fight it. That money can be used on witch-doctors or extrasensory individuals, or on effective preventive measures and healthcare.

Spending will grow inevitably but it must not be hidden behind the general formula of “anti-terrorist activity”. The effectiveness of those measures should be examined by some parliamentary commission, independent experts, and not only by those who seek to conceal all the data.

This year the Russian army is to be transformed into a contract-based force. In terms of the budget, what is your opinion of the program?

The funds allocated for contract soldiers foreseen in the budget are insufficient, and there will be problems with recruiting them. For a sufficient number of people to agree to serve on contract basis their payments should exceed the average salary by at least 20 percent. Numerous public opinion polls confirm that. The budget stipulates no such increase.