Russia - The Army (Russia)

The army is slowly building back its power base in Russia and the CIS but is still as disheveled and unruly as a Moscow drunk. When Russian troops stormed Pristina airport in the Balkans, the politicians were red faced. Seems like the generals were doing a little internal foreign policy planning. When the Kremlin made some mumbles about easing off in Chechnya in the fall of 1999, the military made it clear that they could run the country just fine without the benefit of spineless politicians. That doesn't mean the Russian army will be all it can be. It's still made up of drunken lifers brutalizing ill-trained farmboys and working for corrupt mafyia-controlled generals. The only difference is they are drunk officers and scared, pink-cheeked boys with guns, and in Russia that guarantees a decent living. And the mafyia is a more regular employer than the government.

In some areas, army commanders rent out weapons and men are hired out as mercenaries to the highest bidder. It's not a very tight ship. More than 6,000 crimes involving corruption and embezzlement were committed in the Russian armed forces in 1996, double the figure of three years ago. More than 20 generals were being investigated as of mid-1997, many in housing schemes. An estimated 110,000 troops lack proper housing, and 428 soldiers committed suicide in 1996. In the spring of that year, Yeltsin announced that conscription would end in Russia by 2000, causing Moscow's Generation Xers to party in the streets. It was an empty campaign pledge. Russia cannot afford an all-volunteer army until 2005 at the earliest, Boris' defense minister has said. Bummer. Induced by a chronic food shortage, many soldiers have resorted to begging. And thousands of soldiers died in 1996 from acts of torture and ill treatment by other soldiers. The Kremlin's army has shrunk to a measly 1.7 million soldiers. Russia's version of web-surfing is draft-dodging. A reason for the army's decline is quite simple, really: Russia took over 85 percent of the Soviet Union's armed forces and only 65 percent of its economic potential.

http://www.milparade.ru/