2RHPZ
06-20-2004, 01:15 AM
Russian Defense Ministry Wins Military?s Operational Control
By LYUBOV ****INA, MOSCOW
A long war between Russia?s Defense Ministry and Gen. Anatoly Kvashnin, the powerful chief of the military?s General Staff, has ended with the Russian parliament giving Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov all the reins to rule the armed forces.
The State Duma, the parliament?s lower chamber, on June 11 passed in the third and final reading amendments to the law ?On Defense,? effectively stripping the General Staff of the operational control of the armed forces in favor of the Defense Ministry. The amendments were approved with a 382-4 vote.
The new role of the General Staff has not been identified. But so far it has been tasked with strategic planning, mobilization and combat training, and identifying at an early stage new possible threats and ways to neutralize them.
Under the previous wording of the defense law, adopted in 1996, the management of the armed forces was to be carried out by the defense minister through the General Staff, which was the main body of its operational command. At times, rulings by the General Staff contradicted those issued by the Defense Ministry.
The amendments downgrade the status of the General Staff, which formerly was as powerful as the Defense Ministry. Kvashnin will report directly to President Vladimir Putin, the supreme commander of the military.
?The period of the radical restructuring and reform of the armed forces is completed, and we are transferring to a normal [functioning] of the military,? Ivanov said June 15, according to Rossiiskaya Gazeta, the government?s official mouthpiece. ?This means that each body in the system of command of the armed forces of Russia has to clearly take its place.?
Ivanov went on to say that the military must have a single channel of command and a clearly defined vertical structure. ?Violating this principle has always created a [ground for] disagreement in the leadership of the armed forces and brought in chaos into the management of the armed forces, gave birth to squabbles, intrigues and lack of responsibility,? he said.
Ivanov said that for years the General Staff was overloaded with noncore tasks and unrelated functions, rendering the decision-making process inefficient.
The standoff between the General Staff and the Defense Ministry goes back to clashes between Marshall Igor Sergeyev, the former defense minister, and Kvashnin over the future of the Strategic Nuclear Forces.
Sergeyev, who came from the Strategic Missile Forces, wanted to prioritize their development. Kvashnin, favoring conventional forces, worked to reduce the status of the strategic forces. Kvashnin is believed to have played a major role in Sergeyev?s firing.
However, the conflict continued after Sergei Ivanov, who had served in the foreign intelligence arm of the KGB with Putin, replaced Sergeyev as defense minister in 2001.
Not satisfied with the purely political role the General Staff wanted him to have, Ivanov insisted on vertical management of the military with a single chain of command.
?It is hard to say now how the new channel of command will reflect on the armed forces,? Ivan Safranchuk, head of the Moscow office of the U.S. Center for Defense Information, said. ?Traditionally in the Soviet times, and then in the Russia that followed, the General Staff was the brains of the armed forces and the Defense Ministry was in charge of the administrative side. It was a long-standing question who controls the cash flows through equipping the armed forces and weapons procurement. Kvashnin wanted to rule and for the Defense Ministry to fulfill his plans.?
Safranchuk said that the new command arrangement was imminent but was long and firmly resisted by Kvashnin.
The new hierarchy is in sync with the ongoing administrative reform which began with a government reshuffle in March, when the government of then-Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov was sacked.
Under Kasyanov?s successor, Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, the government structure falls into three levels: a ministry, a service and an agency. The General Staff does not fit into that structure.
The amendments to the defense law still must be passed by the Federation Council and then signed by Putin.
By LYUBOV ****INA, MOSCOW
A long war between Russia?s Defense Ministry and Gen. Anatoly Kvashnin, the powerful chief of the military?s General Staff, has ended with the Russian parliament giving Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov all the reins to rule the armed forces.
The State Duma, the parliament?s lower chamber, on June 11 passed in the third and final reading amendments to the law ?On Defense,? effectively stripping the General Staff of the operational control of the armed forces in favor of the Defense Ministry. The amendments were approved with a 382-4 vote.
The new role of the General Staff has not been identified. But so far it has been tasked with strategic planning, mobilization and combat training, and identifying at an early stage new possible threats and ways to neutralize them.
Under the previous wording of the defense law, adopted in 1996, the management of the armed forces was to be carried out by the defense minister through the General Staff, which was the main body of its operational command. At times, rulings by the General Staff contradicted those issued by the Defense Ministry.
The amendments downgrade the status of the General Staff, which formerly was as powerful as the Defense Ministry. Kvashnin will report directly to President Vladimir Putin, the supreme commander of the military.
?The period of the radical restructuring and reform of the armed forces is completed, and we are transferring to a normal [functioning] of the military,? Ivanov said June 15, according to Rossiiskaya Gazeta, the government?s official mouthpiece. ?This means that each body in the system of command of the armed forces of Russia has to clearly take its place.?
Ivanov went on to say that the military must have a single channel of command and a clearly defined vertical structure. ?Violating this principle has always created a [ground for] disagreement in the leadership of the armed forces and brought in chaos into the management of the armed forces, gave birth to squabbles, intrigues and lack of responsibility,? he said.
Ivanov said that for years the General Staff was overloaded with noncore tasks and unrelated functions, rendering the decision-making process inefficient.
The standoff between the General Staff and the Defense Ministry goes back to clashes between Marshall Igor Sergeyev, the former defense minister, and Kvashnin over the future of the Strategic Nuclear Forces.
Sergeyev, who came from the Strategic Missile Forces, wanted to prioritize their development. Kvashnin, favoring conventional forces, worked to reduce the status of the strategic forces. Kvashnin is believed to have played a major role in Sergeyev?s firing.
However, the conflict continued after Sergei Ivanov, who had served in the foreign intelligence arm of the KGB with Putin, replaced Sergeyev as defense minister in 2001.
Not satisfied with the purely political role the General Staff wanted him to have, Ivanov insisted on vertical management of the military with a single chain of command.
?It is hard to say now how the new channel of command will reflect on the armed forces,? Ivan Safranchuk, head of the Moscow office of the U.S. Center for Defense Information, said. ?Traditionally in the Soviet times, and then in the Russia that followed, the General Staff was the brains of the armed forces and the Defense Ministry was in charge of the administrative side. It was a long-standing question who controls the cash flows through equipping the armed forces and weapons procurement. Kvashnin wanted to rule and for the Defense Ministry to fulfill his plans.?
Safranchuk said that the new command arrangement was imminent but was long and firmly resisted by Kvashnin.
The new hierarchy is in sync with the ongoing administrative reform which began with a government reshuffle in March, when the government of then-Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov was sacked.
Under Kasyanov?s successor, Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, the government structure falls into three levels: a ministry, a service and an agency. The General Staff does not fit into that structure.
The amendments to the defense law still must be passed by the Federation Council and then signed by Putin.