Post by depletedreasons on Nov 26, 2007 4:23:58 GMT -5
Experts see decline in Russia's military
The Associated Press
Published: November 13, 2007
MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin's government has failed to reverse a steady post-Soviet decline of the armed forces despite repeated pledges to strengthen military might, a group of independent experts said in a report released Tuesday.
The military continues to suffer from rampant corruption, inefficiency and poor morale, the report said. The Kremlin has also failed to deliver on its promises to modernize arsenals, it said.
Putin owes his broad popularity to an oil-fueled economic boom that has helped increase wages and pensions, as well as efforts to revive Russia's clout. But critics say that the Russian military is only a shadow of the Soviet Army and that bellicose statements from the Kremlin mask a steady decline of its potential.
"The revival of Russia's military might under Putin is merely a myth," Stanislav Belkovsky, who head the Institute for National Strategy, said at a presentation of the report. "The Russian armed forces have degraded completely under Putin."
If the current trends continue, the report warns, Russia's nuclear arsenals would shrink from about 680 intercontinental ballistic missiles now to between 100 and 200 missiles over the next 10 years.
"It's impossible to reverse these trends under the current policy," it added, pointing at a steady decline of the Russian military-industrial complex that would make it impossible to increase weapons production without huge investments.
Alexander Khramchikhin, an expert with the Institute for Military and Political Analysis, said the continuing decline of nuclear forces meant that they would shrink to a level far below that of the United States and would be comparable to China's.
"Russia's strategic nuclear forces have seen sharp cuts under Putin," Khramchikhin said.
He added that the sea-based component of Russia's nuclear forces had undergone particularly drastic reductions.
Blaming corruption as the root of the problem, Khramchikhin and others said increasing military budgets under Putin actually bought fewer weapons than in the era of President Boris Yeltsin.
"Because of corruption, the military gets a lesser number of weapons at a higher cost," Khramchikhin said.
Amid the increasing cold spell in relations with the West, officials cast the United States and NATO as the main potential enemy, neglecting a rising threat from China, experts said.
Moscow and Beijing have developed increasingly close ties since the Soviet Union collapsed in late 1991, building what they described a "strategic partnership" based on their shared opposition to perceived U.S. global domination.
China has also become the top customer for Russia's military-industrial complex, buying billions of dollars' worth of jets, submarines and destroyers. "Thanks to Russia, China has practically overcome the lag in military technologies which was pretty big in the late 1980s," Khramchikhin said.
A growing population and limited resources in China, he added, will make it a potentially difficult neighbor in the future. Some people in Russia have voiced similar fears, pointing at increasing numbers of Chinese migrants in scarcely populated Russia's Far East and Siberia. Officials have dismissed such concerns.
Putin talks of 'moral right'
Putin said Tuesday that a convincing victory for the party he is leading in next month's parliamentary elections would give him the "moral right" to maintain strong influence in Russia after he steps down next year, The Associated Press reported from Krasnoyarsk, Russia.
Putin's remarks, made in Siberia, were the clearest affirmation yet that he planned to keep a powerful hold on Russia's reins, but he stopped short of saying whether he would seek a formal role.
Putin said last month that he would lead the party's ticket in the Dec. 2 elections to the State Duma, the lower house of Parliament. The decision appeared aimed at increases the chances of the party, United Russia, and ensuring himself a power base when term limits force him from office next year.
"If the people vote for United Russia, it means that a clear majority of the people put their trust in me, and in turn that means I will have the moral right to hold those in the Duma and the cabinet responsible for the implementation of the tasks that have been set as of today," Putin told workers at a road construction site in Krasnoyarsk, a Siberian region that reaches beyond the Arctic Circle.
A construction worker asked what Putin would do after he left office in May and why he had decided to lead the United Russia ticket. The president responded: "In what form I will do this, I cannot yet give a direct answer. But various possibilities exist. If the result is the one I am counting on, I will have this opportunity."
In the parliamentary elections, voters will choose only among parties, not individuals. Seats will be allocated proportionally to those parties that receive at least 7 percent of the vote.
The people who lead party tickets do not always take seats in Parliament, and the Kremlin has said Putin has no intention of doing so. Since Putin agreed to head the United Russia ticket, the party has cast the election as a referendum on the president and the course he has set for the country.
www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/13/asia/russia.php
The Associated Press
Published: November 13, 2007
MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin's government has failed to reverse a steady post-Soviet decline of the armed forces despite repeated pledges to strengthen military might, a group of independent experts said in a report released Tuesday.
The military continues to suffer from rampant corruption, inefficiency and poor morale, the report said. The Kremlin has also failed to deliver on its promises to modernize arsenals, it said.
Putin owes his broad popularity to an oil-fueled economic boom that has helped increase wages and pensions, as well as efforts to revive Russia's clout. But critics say that the Russian military is only a shadow of the Soviet Army and that bellicose statements from the Kremlin mask a steady decline of its potential.
"The revival of Russia's military might under Putin is merely a myth," Stanislav Belkovsky, who head the Institute for National Strategy, said at a presentation of the report. "The Russian armed forces have degraded completely under Putin."
If the current trends continue, the report warns, Russia's nuclear arsenals would shrink from about 680 intercontinental ballistic missiles now to between 100 and 200 missiles over the next 10 years.
"It's impossible to reverse these trends under the current policy," it added, pointing at a steady decline of the Russian military-industrial complex that would make it impossible to increase weapons production without huge investments.
Alexander Khramchikhin, an expert with the Institute for Military and Political Analysis, said the continuing decline of nuclear forces meant that they would shrink to a level far below that of the United States and would be comparable to China's.
"Russia's strategic nuclear forces have seen sharp cuts under Putin," Khramchikhin said.
He added that the sea-based component of Russia's nuclear forces had undergone particularly drastic reductions.
Blaming corruption as the root of the problem, Khramchikhin and others said increasing military budgets under Putin actually bought fewer weapons than in the era of President Boris Yeltsin.
"Because of corruption, the military gets a lesser number of weapons at a higher cost," Khramchikhin said.
Amid the increasing cold spell in relations with the West, officials cast the United States and NATO as the main potential enemy, neglecting a rising threat from China, experts said.
Moscow and Beijing have developed increasingly close ties since the Soviet Union collapsed in late 1991, building what they described a "strategic partnership" based on their shared opposition to perceived U.S. global domination.
China has also become the top customer for Russia's military-industrial complex, buying billions of dollars' worth of jets, submarines and destroyers. "Thanks to Russia, China has practically overcome the lag in military technologies which was pretty big in the late 1980s," Khramchikhin said.
A growing population and limited resources in China, he added, will make it a potentially difficult neighbor in the future. Some people in Russia have voiced similar fears, pointing at increasing numbers of Chinese migrants in scarcely populated Russia's Far East and Siberia. Officials have dismissed such concerns.
Putin talks of 'moral right'
Putin said Tuesday that a convincing victory for the party he is leading in next month's parliamentary elections would give him the "moral right" to maintain strong influence in Russia after he steps down next year, The Associated Press reported from Krasnoyarsk, Russia.
Putin's remarks, made in Siberia, were the clearest affirmation yet that he planned to keep a powerful hold on Russia's reins, but he stopped short of saying whether he would seek a formal role.
Putin said last month that he would lead the party's ticket in the Dec. 2 elections to the State Duma, the lower house of Parliament. The decision appeared aimed at increases the chances of the party, United Russia, and ensuring himself a power base when term limits force him from office next year.
"If the people vote for United Russia, it means that a clear majority of the people put their trust in me, and in turn that means I will have the moral right to hold those in the Duma and the cabinet responsible for the implementation of the tasks that have been set as of today," Putin told workers at a road construction site in Krasnoyarsk, a Siberian region that reaches beyond the Arctic Circle.
A construction worker asked what Putin would do after he left office in May and why he had decided to lead the United Russia ticket. The president responded: "In what form I will do this, I cannot yet give a direct answer. But various possibilities exist. If the result is the one I am counting on, I will have this opportunity."
In the parliamentary elections, voters will choose only among parties, not individuals. Seats will be allocated proportionally to those parties that receive at least 7 percent of the vote.
The people who lead party tickets do not always take seats in Parliament, and the Kremlin has said Putin has no intention of doing so. Since Putin agreed to head the United Russia ticket, the party has cast the election as a referendum on the president and the course he has set for the country.
www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/13/asia/russia.php