On May 7, Russia celebrates the Day of the Creation of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. This date was not chosen by chance. 26 years ago, on May 7, 1992, President Boris Yeltsin signed an order on organizational measures to create the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. This decision was a logical step in the construction of a sovereign Russian state. With the end of the existence of the Soviet Union, the unified Soviet Army also became a thing of the past. Naturally, the newly formed state - the Russian Federation - had a need to create its own armed forces.
The creation of the Russian armed forces was preceded by the signing of the Belovezhskaya Agreements on December 21, 1991, after which the Commonwealth of Independent States was created. The responsibilities of commanding the armed forces stationed on the territory of the CIS member states were entrusted to the last Minister of Defense of the Soviet Union, Air Marshal Yevgeny Ivanovich Shaposhnikov. On February 14, 1992, Shaposhnikov was appointed Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the United Armed Forces of the CIS. Simultaneously with this decision, the USSR Ministry of Defense, which had ceased to exist, was transformed into the General Command of the Joint Armed Forces of the CIS. On March 16, 1992, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation were created under the operational subordination of the High Command of the Joint Armed Forces of the CIS. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation at this stage is headed by the President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin himself.
After the signing of the decree on the creation of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation on May 7, Boris Yeltsin assumed the duties of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. On the same day, Colonel-General Pavel Grachev was appointed Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, since April 3, 1992, he held the post of First Deputy Defense Minister of the Russian Federation Yeltsin and was responsible for interaction with the armed forces of the CIS member states. The beginning of the 1990s was a period of a dizzying career for Grachev. Back in December 1990, he wore the epaulettes of a major general and held the post of first deputy commander-in-chief of the Airborne Forces, from December 30, 1990 he became commander-in-chief of the Airborne Forces, on February 6, 1991 he was promoted to lieutenant general, and on August 23, 1991 - colonel general … Simultaneously with the appointment of the Minister of Defense of Russia, Pavel Grachev was awarded the rank of General of the Army. Such a dizzying career was associated with the loyalty that Grachev showed in relation to the first Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Therefore, it was his candidacy that Yeltsin chose for the post of defense minister of sovereign Russia.
Another likely candidate for this position could be General of the Army Konstantin Kobets. It was he who headed the State Committee of the RSFSR for Defense and Security, which functioned from January to August 1991. On August 20, 1991, during the days of the August putsch, Colonel-General (at that time) Konstantin Kobets was appointed Minister of Defense of the RSFSR, having received the rank of General of the Army on August 24, 1991. Unlike the paratrooper Grachev, Kobets was a signalman - a graduate of the Kiev Military School of Communications, he gave 35 years to serve in this branch of the army. By the time of the crucial events for national history, Kobets for three years (from August 1987) held the post of Chief of Signal Corps of the Armed Forces of the USSR - Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR.
The State Commission for the Creation of the Ministry of Defense, Army and Navy of Russia, formed by Yeltsin's decision of April 4, 1992, included several people. Colonel-General Dmitry Antonovich Volkogonov, a military propagandist, then a teacher, Doctor of History and Doctor of Philosophy, was appointed chairman. In 1988-1991. he headed the Institute of Military History of the USSR Ministry of Defense. The commission included Grachev, Kobets and two civilians - Andrei Kokoshin and Yuri Skokov. Already after the creation of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the department was given a difficult task - to divide the armed forces and military property of the former USSR, ensuring the creation of the Russian armed forces.
By May 1992, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation included directorates, associations, formations, military units, institutions, military educational institutions, enterprises and organizations of the Armed Forces of the USSR, located on the territory of the RSFSR, as well as troops and forces under the jurisdiction of Russia on the territories Transcaucasian Military District, Western, Northern and North-Western Groups of Forces, Black Sea Fleet, Baltic Fleet, Caspian Flotilla, 14th Guards Army, as well as in Cuba, Germany, Mongolia and a number of other states. The total number of these troops, forces and institutions was 2, 88 million people. Naturally, one of the first tasks was to reduce the size of the armed forces, the withdrawal of their main part from the territories of other states, primarily from the countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics. For the armed forces, the period of the early and mid-1990s was the time of the most serious tests - both material and, most importantly, moral. Many officers and warrant officers were dismissed from the army "for civilian life", being completely unprepared for this. After all, they, starting to serve in the Soviet Army, counted on long-term service with subsequent retirement. Now, it turns out that many of them turned out to be of no use to anyone.
Difficulties with the financing of the armed forces led to a situation paradoxical for any civilized country - impoverished officers who were literally forced to survive, interrupted by odd jobs. It was in such a difficult situation that the formation of the Russian armed forces took place. I must say that along the way, the Russian army faced many shocks and problems. Unfortunately, already in the very first years of its existence, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation were forced to take part in hostilities in a number of new "hot spots" in the post-Soviet space and on the territory of Russia itself. Ossetia, Tajikistan, Abkhazia, Transnistria, but the most serious test was the war in Chechnya, which was officially called the counter-terrorist operation. It was the Chechen war that revealed numerous problems in the organization, management, supply, training of the Russian armed forces, which, unfortunately, suffered very serious losses.
In turn, the death of servicemen, especially 18-19-year-old soldiers and sergeants of conscript service, led to a tension in the socio-political situation in the country. Many public organizations, politicians, ordinary citizens began to demand that the Russian authorities immediately transfer the army to a contract basis, which was not possible due to the banal lack of funding. However, a rather impressive category of "contract soldiers" appeared in the Russian army, which only grew in number over time. But it was not possible to replace conscripts with contract soldiers, and it was not advisable, based on the needs of ensuring the country's defense capability.
The responsibility for the failures in Chechnya, for the general decline in military discipline, and for the deterioration of the moral and psychological climate in the army was blamed on General of the Army Pavel Grachev. Ultimately, despite his loyalty to Yeltsin, which the general confirmed in the days of the October 1993 events, in 1996 he was dismissed. It is known that the late Lieutenant General Alexander Lebed, who was a presidential candidate in the presidential elections and who concluded a corresponding agreement with Boris Yeltsin, played a significant role in this.
Pavel Grachev was replaced as Minister of Defense of Russia by Colonel-General Igor Rodionov, who previously held the post of chief of the Military Academy of the General Staff. Unlike Grachev, Igor Nikolaevich Rodionov adhered to completely different views on the future of both Russia and the Russian army. Perhaps that is why he did not work well with the Yeltsin team. On May 22, 1997, less than a year after his appointment, Igor Rodionov was dismissed from his post. He was replaced by General of the Army Igor Dmitrievich Sergeev, who became the first Marshal of the Russian Federation on November 21, 1997. As a member of the Strategic Missile Forces, Sergeev was convinced that the strategic nuclear forces should play a key role in the defense of Russia.
Under Sergeev and Sergei Ivanov, who replaced him in 2001, discussions continued on the possibility of transferring the Russian armed forces to a contract basis. By 2003, it was possible to achieve that 45% of the personnel in Chechnya were contract soldiers. However, it was still not possible to completely transfer the armed forces to the contract. It was decided to equip with contract soldiers only units of constant combat readiness, which were to quickly solve combat missions. The main difficulty also lay in financing, as well as in the absence of an appropriate social infrastructure in the places of deployment of military units. Nevertheless, contract soldiers are not conscripts, but adults, often with families, for whom appropriate living conditions are required.
In addition to transferring to a contract basis, the reform of the command and control system of the armed forces began to be discussed. The idea of creating three regional commands was proposed, to which all the armed forces of the country would be subordinate, depending on their places of deployment. At the same time, it was planned to abolish the High Commands of the Services and Arms of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. But this idea was postponed "for later" due to funding problems. Nevertheless, when in 2007 Ivanov was replaced by Anatoly Serdyukov, it was decided to return to her. The Eastern Regional Command was soon created, but due to the identified inefficiencies in 2008 it was disbanded.
The modern appearance of the Russian armed forces was formed under the last two defense ministers - Anatoly Serdyukov and Sergei Shoigu. It is noteworthy that both of these people were not career soldiers. The systemic reforms carried out under Anatoly Serdyukov in the armed forces were rapid and not always justified, and drew criticism from numerous opponents. At the same time, many experts believe that the role of Serdyukov in the modernization of the Russian army is not assessed according to his merits and is significantly belittled. Many of Serdyukov's plans for reform were canceled under his successor Shoigu. In particular, Shoigu expressed a sharply negative attitude towards the reform of the military education system in the country, which led to a shortage of military specialists, as well as to the abolition of the institution of warrant officers in the armed forces.
In any case, the Russian army met the mid-2010s in a completely renewed form, which did not resemble the armed forces that existed in the 1990s - 2000s. Under Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, military training in the troops was seriously intensified, weapons were modernized, and most importantly, the Russian armed forces in a new guise were tested during the reunification of Crimea with Russia and the fight against terrorists in Syria. In Russian society, the prestige of military service has increased many times over, which manifested itself in a reduction in the number of draft evaders, an increase in competition for admission to military schools, and a general change in attitudes towards servicemen. By 2015, the Russian army had become the second most powerful army in the world. Of course, there are certain problems, but the good news is that the state is really rapidly modernizing its armed forces, turning them into modern, extremely effective, capable of promptly responding to changes in the military-political situation anywhere in the world.
At present, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation consist of three branches and two separate branches of the armed forces. Types of the RF Armed Forces - Ground Forces, Aerospace Forces of Russia (formed in 2015 as a result of the merger of the Air Force and Aerospace Defense Forces of the RF Armed Forces), the Russian Navy. Separate branches of the armed forces are the Strategic Missile Forces and the Airborne Forces. In addition, there are the Special Operations Forces of the Russian Federation, which is a united army grouping, staffed exclusively by contract soldiers, very mobile, capable of operating quickly in different parts of the globe. It was the MTR servicemen who were popularly called "polite people", which was associated with the actions of the forces in the Crimea, during the reunification of the peninsula with Russia.
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are a reliable defender of the country, its main and only, if we recall the famous expression of Alexander III, an ally. Despite the existing problems, the majority of Russian servicemen carry out their service with honor, successfully solve the assigned tasks, and are indeed the pride and elite of Russian society.
