Russia plans massive military investment
President Medvedev wants more planes, tanks, missiles, and warships. His defense minister argues that Washington wants to drive Russia into a strategic corner.
By Fred Weir | 03.18.09
MOSCOW – The diplomatic tone between Russia and the US may have sweetened since Barack Obama took office, but Russian leaders are adopting a tougher line than ever when addressing their domestic audience.
Speaking to a room of Russian Army brass on Tuesday, President Dmitry Medvedev pledged massive hikes in military spending and stepped-up procurement of nuclear missiles, tanks, fighter planes, and a new generation of deep-water warships, including aircraft carriers.
Despite a galloping economic crisis, “significant funds have been earmarked for the development and purchase,” of these weapons, Mr. Medvedev said.
He did not specify the amounts to be spent on new arms, but said the increases will not take effect until 2011. The daily newspaper Kommersant reported Wednesday that Russia might actually cut its military expenditures for next year amid a hurricane of budgetary woes.
A “qualitative” upsurge in Russian military development is necessary because conflict looks more likely than ever in the present world, Medvedev argued. “Threats remain that can bring about local crises and international terrorism; NATO is not halting its efforts to widen its military infrastructure near the borders of our country,” he added.
In a separate statement, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov called for a robust military response to what he described as Washington’s attempts to drive Russia into a strategic corner. “US aspirations have been aimed at getting access to raw materials, energy, and other resources,” of the former USSR, he said. “Active support was given to attempts to push Russia out of its traditional sphere of interests.”
Russia has been discussing military renewal for several years (click here for a Monitor story) as Soviet-era hardware deteriorates, the old-fashioned conscript army grows increasingly dysfunctional, and fresh military challenges emerge. Last summer’s flash war against the neighboring ex-Soviet republic of Georgia was won handily by Russia’s Caucasus-based 58th Army, but postwar analyses highlighted disastrous shortcomings that cost the Russian forces dearly (in-depth coverage on the fallout posted here).
Russia has also been moving to bolster its regional alliance system and develop military cooperation with neighboring China (see Monitor’s coverage here), which also happens to be one of the biggest clients for Russian arms sales.
Some experts suggest that the sudden burst of strident talk coming out of Moscow, including declarations of rearmament and proposals to base Russian nuclear-capable bombers in Latin America (for more on that, click here), is mostly political atmospherics aimed at putting Obama on the defensive when he meets with Medvedev on the sidelines of the G-20 conference in London next month to renegotiate the strategic relationship between the two countries.
But others say Russia’s rearmament plans are very real, and may even be long overdue. “We are not happy at all with the Army we have,” says Viktor Baranets, a military expert with the independent Moscow daily Komsomolskaya Pravda.
“It may have won the Caucasus war, but it proved itself to be an outdated Army of the Soviet type. Even though some parts still work well, such as the strategic missile command, our Army is basically good for nothing,” he says.
The message delivered by Medvedev is that Russia will no longer scrimp and save at the expense of its armed forces. “This statement is mainly for domestic consumption, to reassure the Russian public that we are ready to meet all challenges,” Mr. Baranets adds.
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2. Nav | 03.18.09
LoL@ Steve…. you stopped buying Chinese goods? Yea right. In one way or another you are indirectly or directly still consuming chinese goods.
3. Craig | 03.18.09
You are giving money to the Chinese whether you know it or not. They own this country.
4. Kevin | 03.18.09
Buying USA is all good. However, we have to buy chinese. If we do not, they will forclose on our debt they own. Then what, WWIII?
5. Steve B | 03.18.09
Russia is mixing some legitimate concerns with political posturing. It’s probably true that the US would like access to the raw materials, energy, and other resources of the former USSR. So do many countries. However, those aspirations will be pursued via the free market, not militarily. Also, neither NATO nor the US has any intention of attacking Russia. To even hint at this is ludicrous.
The biggest military threat facing Russia is from China, which has the population, the economy, the technology, and the need for space and resources to make it a legitimate concern.
Because of the Chinese threat, it would be in Russia’s best interest to pursue a strategic partnership with NATO and the US, rather than antagonizing them.
6. Malcolm | 03.18.09
Well said steve. you have an interesting point on this issue. Energy independance is the “space race” of our time for many reasons.
7. Paul | 03.18.09
Russia knows that China is their main weapons buyer but they also know that in the short future, China may want a piece of their land and take advantage of a weak military, they know China is looking a lot like a 1934 Nazi Germany and once they anexed Taiwan (As Hitler did with Austria) it´ll be the signal to get ready… sadly again
8. RobertG | 03.18.09
It sounds like a bit of posturing by the Russians. They talk about local crises and terrorism, yet want to buy “nuclear missiles, tanks, fighter planes, and a new generation of deep-water warships, including aircraft carriers?” Let’s face it, NO one is going to attack them and they know it. Their main issues lie INSIDE their country, not outside it. The rivalry between the US/USSR (political, military, geographic, space) is long gone.
Issues with China mainly center around their common border and this doesn’t require a huge military buildup. Internal ethnic issues are nothing new and require a hands-on, low-tech approach (peaceful or not so peaceful).
Military hardware does not build wealth. Once you make a submarine or aircraft carrier, that’s it. They aren’t used for commerce, they’re money pits until retired or destroyed.
Russia has recently made the confiscation of entrepreneurial wealth into a national hobby. It has degenerated into an oligarchy dominated by short-sighted thieves who sprang from the KGB and similar internal organs. Without real wealth and rule of law, you simply cannot have a modern military. That’s why the Soviet Union collapsed. This new government under Medvedev/Putin will be no different
9. Andy | 03.18.09
I listened to his full speech. He said that the primary goal for them is to improve the nuclear capability of the country. Steve, as long as Russia maintains a capable stockpile of nuclear weapons there will be no threat from large powers such as US or China. Nuclear weapons prevent large scale wars, not conventional forces. There is no direct threat from NATO or USA, however they do arm Russia’s neighbors and do dictate the politics to those states (read Georgia as one). This is where the modernized conventional forces come in - not to fight americans but to fight regional conflicts against states which recieve military and political support from the West. Nobody is talking about WWIII or direct confrontation with the west.
10. Ven | 03.18.09
Medvedev’s speech was primarily an attempt to pacify Russian military brass amid the announce massive military staff cutbacks affecting senior officers. The layoffs are to be completed by 2010, cutting the number of command positions from 355,000 down to 150,000. The number of Generals will be reduced by 20%, Colonels - by 64%, Majors - by 75%, and Captains - by 56%.
The promise of increased defense spending in 2011 is the silver lining the government puts out there to quiet growing discontent among officers. This is not to say that such plans are not real or not realistic. Many argue that such a drastic military reform action is long overdue. Others believe it will finish off whatever military capability Russia retained from the Soviet times.
Oil price forecasts will largely determine the fate of this military reform. Reduction in the number of officers was not engineered to save money. There are parallel plans to increase pensions and expedite benefits programs for retired officers. If anything, this restructuring will require a 300% increase in the defense budget by 2012. The government acknowledges this fact and so everybody is very interested to find out just where the Kremlin plans to find financing.
At the same time, Russia is maintaining and even accelerating its space program. Again - not clear where the funding will be coming from. Granted, considering the size of Russia’s aerospace and defense industries and their impact on the economy and the job market, these bold projects are a part of Russia’s own New Deal program to offset the recession. Obama wants to build highways and Medvedev wants to build fighter jets. Superficial differences aside, both Russia and the US take essentially the same approach to dealing with the financial crisis.
11. HMC(FMF)BEN | 03.18.09
well said everybody, Robert i have to agree with you, ive been in service for more than 15 yrs now and maintaining military equipment is not cheap special a carrier. US carriers costs tax payers millions of dollars a month not year, to maintain the ship and its crew. If they want to go back to stone age let em.
12. paul | 03.18.09
Well just as Steve stated ” that we have ways to keep their wealth at bay” is one of the major reasons countries will seek weapons to protect their brand of government. the us has a long history of suppression of any government we don’t like. we have invested in terrorism and many more heinous programs to get what we want not necessarily what is best for the world. if we have ways to keep their wealth at bay then why do we need all the state of the art weaponry. Mankind will never stop waring until we destroy this planet and ourselves with it, for what our greed.
13. Steve B | 03.18.09
Ven, I don’t know what Russia’s existing force structure looks like, but the numbers you cite seem to gut the middle ranks, leaving it top-heavy with generals and bottom-heavy with lieutenants. Any idea what their thought process is in doing this?
14. Josh | 03.18.09
Extremely informative comments on this article, even moreso then those of the actual news story!
15. Glenn | 03.18.09
Medvedev claiams they are being “pused into a corner”. Tanks, figher jets, aircraft carriers, and missiles are all OFFENSIVE weapons. Wake up.
16. Ven | 03.18.09
Steve B, the table below shows the current and projected numbers of officers in the Russian Armed Forces. The reason for the current apparent lack of proportion in, say, the number of Captains and Majors is the result of the Soviet system, where “ghost” divisions are supposed to absorb large numbers of conscripts and reservists in war time. The military maintained enough senior officers to accommodate a rapid increase in the number of enlisted men and junior officers. As Russia moves away from this system to a volunteer-based force, this structure is being abandoned, resulting in some serious layoffs of senior officers.
Rank Current 2012 Change
Generals 1,107 886 -20%
Colonels 25,665 9,114 -64%
Majors 99,550 25,000 -75%
Captains 90,000 40,000 -56%
Lieutenants 50,000 60,000 +20%
17. russian | 03.18.09
Somehow several people mentioned that no one wants to attack Russia from the West like in this comment:
“It sounds like a bit of posturing by the Russians. They talk about local crises and terrorism, yet want to buy “nuclear missiles, tanks, fighter planes, and a new generation of deep-water warships, including aircraft carriers?” Let’s face it, NO one is going to attack them and they know it. Their main issues lie INSIDE their country, not outside it. The rivalry between the US/USSR (political, military, geographic, space) is long gone.”
I agree that Russia has issue within the country, but the outside threat is very much alive simply due to the size of Russia. Also, all your (western) promises not to attack Russia are very hollow — look at the history, Russia had seen a major invasion from the West pretty much every 50-100 years or so. The big invasion (Mongols) from the East happened 1 time only and was like 700 years ago. So the fear of war coming from the West (and not from China) is very much deeply rooted in the Russian history. May be if you (the West) stop harassing us at every single opportunity then we (Russia) will believe you in about 200-300 years… Although, I don’t see how this is possible considering that the West has no resources and is eager to kill anyone for just another barrel of oil that will be burned right away in your cars…
18. Aleksei | 03.18.09
Regarding ranks - that’s because Russia moves from large battalions to a small mobile brigades similar to US structure. Russian army is really outdated as it was selling all of new developed weapons to other countries, especially to China and now Russia faces a dis balance of powers. Of coarse no one is going to attack Russia as it can blow whole planet with nukes.
All past big wars were about land and resources. We are running out of Fossil fuels and renewable technology is nowhere near to support our demand. Russia hold largest resources of fossil fuels and potable water. The reality is that nothing will be happening in the next a few decades, but prognoses for future are not clear, so Russia is re arming.
19. jerry | 03.18.09
look ur helping china by living! china provides soo many basic life neccessities that if u don’t use any chinese made items u would have 2 be a billionare. china provides soo many cheap everyday item. and sooner or later china will rise and declare war ( on who idk ). they will belive me. they have the people they have the money and they will have the weapons.
20. K Jones | 03.18.09
Having lived in Alaska for ten years it might be interesting to comment that you can walk into any taco bell in Anchorage and hear a national guardsman talk about how many fighter jets crossed over into US Airspace today.
We don’t get the stories in the news, but the Russians play cat and mouse games with us regularly. That’s what the governor of Alaka was talking about when she said she was regularly informed of Soviet threats.
Alaska National Guardsmen, whos job it is to watch our skies everyday, will tell you that the Russians mindset is still in the coldwar era, whether ours is or not.
21. Jacob | 03.19.09
The problem with Russia is that they keep bullying around their neighbors and then getting angry when they turn to NATO for help. On top of that, they insist on waging a vile propaganda war against the entire West. Now, I don’t know if their war in Georgia was justified or not, but if they keep this up then nobody’s going to believe them even do have a legitimate cause in a future conflict.
22. Miroslav_Russia | 03.19.09
My dear American friends! Please remember that Russians GENETICALLY can’t want war.
23. BD | 03.19.09
I love blogs because it shows the strength of everyones opinion. I am a US Servicemen, a full time citizen soldier at that. As we all do around the world prepare to defend our countries with our lives for past, present, and future threats, none of us actually want war to happen. the Military is a threat deterant, thats why we have Nukes, Aircraft, Carriers, etc and amidst everything I just hope we all can one day see that peace is nessacary for us as Mankind to advance into the next fronteer together. I know that my opinion is one of a dreamer, but once we get past these things then one day, together we can combine forces and push to explore deep space and find new resources for all mankind.
24. To Russian | 03.19.09
Russian wrote that the West is “harassing” Russia, and I wonder how is Portugal or Spain or France going about it? The point is not the Russia is going to be attacked by the West, but that it considers the free market system of the West as an attack on its resources. Russia does not embrace the free market values, so it continues to live in the old mentality of the cold war, under the same dictates established by Marx, Lenin, and Stalin. The problem is the Russia wants to live in the 21st century with the mind of Lenin.
25. Joab | 03.19.09
The Russians (no longer Soviets) are absolutely right. The US is trying to gobble up the world’s resources (Capitalism at its finest), but the new regime in Dc is correctly perceived as weak-willed, militarily-speaking. Aircraft carriers are meant to take the fight to the other guy. I wonder who that is?
26. Allanon | 03.19.09
Does nobody recognize the supreme arrogance in the American position? Americans feel it is their economic and governmental duty to domineer as much of the globe as possible. If a few formerly-powerful-countries are trod upon the way, who are we to stop in our pursuit of justice and free market? Inherent in this ideal is the idea that America is on a Democratic-Capitalist crusade meant to bow all before its bloody feet and that no other course of action is capable. While advocating for peace and equality and human rights, America is simultaneously grinding down all alternatives or opposition with brands like “terrorist” and “axis of evil” in order to coerce and compel. When this is not effective enough, military force is required (See the Iraq War). This plurality in denial of basic abilities the American government enjoys worldwide corrupts and perverts the entire foundation of democratic diplomacy it stands for.
27. AnotherVlad | 03.19.09
The US should stop worry, no one want to attack them, not Mexico, not Canada, not even Cuba or China! Stop spending money like crazy ones, It doesn’t create wealth. It drives at nowhere, here in California schools are so bad, class are so big, Latino minority with anti school attitude, you just must to live in a good school district (not many are) if you want future for your kids. A friend of mine, a math teacher is scheduled for layoff next month. Why should we care about Russia?
28. Sully | 03.19.09
I am not sure what all the panic is about. The Russian military is a small shadow of its former power a generation ago. I am not sure they even have an operational aircraft carrier anymore. Let them modernize, we do it constantly. The US Navy is larger than the combined naives of the next 13 countries, and 11 of those are our allies. For now and the forseeable future, the US military will be, by far, the strongest in the world. And it should be, we spend much much more that anyone else.
So let the Russians, the Chinese, and anyone else modernize. They will probably buy our equipment any way
29. nik | 03.19.09
all the problems in the world came from U.S. POLICY.is OK for them to have military basis around russia beacause they are the god guys allways . Russia ,let all east europe free including my country what they got after that,biger NATO.Why, NATO shoudn’t exist, is a organization of domination of athers.I wos in the army end USSR NEVER SENT AS IN aFGANISTAN,but NATO sent my people to die for no reason. US allways need allies they can not do nothing along, and americans do not thing if the greatNATO and US they go to war[is not gone happen]they will fight RUSSIANS not those small countrys with no wepons. US sould pull all the basis from Europe, and not instigate athers
30. Brian Colling | 03.19.09
Greatest comments I’ve ever read after an article! Much better than the actual article itself. Readers, I applaud you. Russia to me is a serious threat especially since their allies tend to be countries we do not like.
31. Russia in NATO | 03.20.09
Why wouldn’t Russia join NATO? What could prevent Russia from guaranteeing the security and freedom of other NATO countries? Is Russia tempted to conquer more territories? If the Russian people love peace and freedom, why don’t they join the NATO efforts to secure that freedom?
32. Simon | 03.21.09
Steve, the first commenter, seems to think the west has some kind of natural superiority, and that the future will be just like the past. It’s a ridiculously simple minded way to look at the world. Russia is in a very new era now, and they are no longer communist. They are gradually integrating into the world economy and no longer insulating themselves like before. To say their technology will always be behind the west is to fail to understand the nature of the global economy. Everyone can modernize as long as they follow proven methods of development. And Russia is on the path of modernization (as is China). We should broaden our vision a bit, instead of making blind nationalistic statements.
33. MM Calvario | 03.22.09
The all world must wake up
The USA is acting like A.HITLER era. Invade, kill and commit attrocity wherever and when they want under terrorist pretext.I do not support Russian or Chinese politic, but I support them to became more pawerfull same as america so they will be a weight against the USA. Look what Bush has done to iraq and afghanistan etc…
Bush knew Bin laden was hiding in afghanistan, why he send his troop to Iraq?
the raison was to protect the jews. there is nothing wrong by protecting jews. I support jews but not the politic and jews are making a lot of mistake by relying to american instead of making peace with the nabber.To make peace in midlle east is very simple: a. Create a state of palestine
b. avoid palestine signing military contract
with any country eccept israel
Any way Russia, China and all any country with military technology ambitions let them welcom to my opinion.
34. dim | 03.27.09
How dare you, american friends, complain about Russian army modernization? Did you forget what it is USA spend to arms more, than WHOLE wold combined??? Who are you trying to conquier? another oil rich nation like Iraq with lame and false escuse? or you planning to bomb another peacefull nation like Serbia 10 years ago? Or may be you preparing to invade to another Vietnam without any resason and bomb such nation with more bombs than whole WWII? If you aren’t inform: it is axactly what you general already did in Vietnam: drop more kilotons on vietnamiese pesants than all nations combined in WWi dropped on each other.
there is no other nations in the world who such an aggressor as USA, there is nobody else attack other nations literally hundred times in 20 century alone. Do you know about CIA operaiotn in Iran? In Hawai? Haiti? Sudan? Venezuela? and so on…
Russia have been invaded from the west almost hundred times for last 800 years, by Germans, Poland, France, Swedeen, Litwania, turkey, German again, etc. And just recently NATO bomb Serbia, invaded iraq & afganistan + moving strategic rockets to Poland, 5 minuts flight time to Moscow.
Who is having mililaty bases our borders? may be it is Russia who setting up new rockets in Mexico? Ah, no, it is NATO in Chech republic…
Do not fool yourself guys (”we always good etc crap”) because you would not fool Russia. We almost never attack anybody - we do not need new land or resourses - we alwasy defend outselves. We will be ready for your new (stupid) envasion
35. dim | 03.28.09
“The point is not the Russia is going to be attacked by the West, but that it considers the free market system of the West as an attack on its resources.”
Are you talk about Iraq? Invasion to oil rich paradise now called “attack on its resources by free market system”? You might be even feel proud to embrace that “free” market. I suggest to either go tell that story to iraque widows or stop sellip this BS to us. The funniest thing in some “western” people what they really beleive in their supperiority…
“Russia does not embrace the free market values”
How would you know? Did you ever live in Russia? May be you did buisness there? Or you just read some papers written by some guys who also know nothing about my country? Because Russian DOES embrace free market values for last 20 years. I guarantee you my friend, in some areas it much more freedom than in so called “west”
“so it continues to live in the old mentality of the cold war under the same dictates established by Marx, Lenin, and Stalin”
1. it is you my friend, who trully stuck in the past. It is you remember things which is long forgotten in Russia (like Lenin)
2. Study the fact first. Communist party has ~8% support in parliament
3. you surely know nothing anout Russia, but i bet consider yourself some kind of expert 
lolz
“The problem is the Russia wants to live in the 21st century with the mind of Lenin” No, the problem for guys like you that Russia is not agree to be occupied as Iraq or bomb as Serbia. All Russia wants: live peacefully, free and with MUTUAL respect of national interests.
36. Brian Colling | 04.01.09
Russia, please understand us Americans wants peace just like you do. We do not always agree with our government or policies but we love our country and we are one of the only countries that will give money, aid, and support to other countries. We do not agree with communism because it is a demotivating system and promotes laziness and government power. We are rooting for you to join us as a prosperous nation. But do not invade countries like Georgia or flex your muscles at us. Because our biggest fear is that although you probably had more nukes then we did in 1965, but since your economical collapse who knows who’s hands those nukes could of gotten too. Join us on our path to rid the world off terrorism and stop defending enemies who threaten peace like N. Korea, Iran, and don’t ever plan of putting missles near Cuba because we’ve been very kind not to make Cuba a lovely American island. Don’t mistake our kindness for weakness and let’s be able to make firm hand shakes and work together and not against each other. Do you really think America wants to fight Russia? We have absolutely zero interest in a war like that.
37. ugly american | 05.02.09
Russia is weak and will continue to grow weaker
Especially with the low price of oil
For oil is Russia’s only real money maker
China is the number one threat to the U.S.
China’s wealth comes only from manufacturing and exports
As countries import crap goods from China
This will continue to fund China’s military growth
Remove China’s manufacturing and exports and they will fail
The Chinese economy will implode just as the Soviet Union
For the Chinese cannot match the U.S.’ economic and financial power
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1. Steve | 03.18.09
Let us hope that Russia does invest in their military because it will set them back another 50 years. If they have not learned by now that the west will always be ahead in technology and military strategy not to mention that we have ways to keep their wealth at bay, then they are doomed to repeat the mistakes of their Soviet era leaders. By the west increasing our energy technology we can exponentially have an affect on the amount of money the Russians can spend on their military. So Mr. Medvedev, feel free to empower the west with your rhetoric and ignorant non-sense. And for the Chinese, we must find ways to curtail their absurd military ambitions. My suggestion is quite simple, stop buying Chinese made goods as my family has done. We sleep well at night knowing that we are not contributing to the rise of the China. Thanks.