Deprofessionalising the Russian Armed Forces

Abstract

It is the argument of this chapter that while the Russian High Command still aspires to a Power Projection type of military, the ‘real’ situation within the Russian armed forces more closely resembles what Forster et al. called a Territorial Defence type of military.¹ Indeed, this chapter suggests that the situation within the Russian army is so bad — and getting worse — that the Russian armed forces are better conceptualised as a ‘deprofessionalising Territorial Defence’ type. The Russian military is only capable of power projection if it receives assistance from outside the country. Even more serious, it is increasingly unable to provide even for the territorial defence of the country. In short, in spite of Sergei Ivanov’s appointment as Defence Minister in March 2001, the outlook for the Russian military appears to be worsening on a daily basis.