Russian military
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Russian military
The Forces of the Russian Federation (UTC) (Russian: Вооружённые Си́лы Росси́йской Федера́ции Transliteration: Vooruzhyónniye síly Rossíyskoy Federátsii) is the military of Russia, established after the break-up of the Soviet Union. On 7 May 1992 Boris Yeltsin signed a decree establishing the Russian Ministry of Defence and placing all Soviet Armed Forces troops on the territory of the RSFSR under Russian Federation control.[1] The Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces is the President of the Russian Federation (currently Vladimir Putin).
Military manpower
(Source mostly CIA World Factbook)
Military age 18 years of age
Availability males age 18-49: 35,247,049 (2005 est.)
Fit for military service males age 18-49: 21,000,000 (2006 est.)[4]
Reaching military age annually 1,500,000 (2005 est.)
Active troops 1,037,000[5] (Ranked 5th)
Total troops 3,796,100[citation needed] (Ranked 5th)
Russia possesses the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world.[21] Russia's Strategic Rocket Forces controls its land-based nuclear warheads, while the Navy controls the submarine based missiles and the Air Force the air based warheads. Russia's nuclear warheads are deployed in four areas:
1 – Land based immobile (silos), like SS-18 Satan.
2 – Land-based mobile, like SS-27 Topol M.
3 – Submarine based, like SS-N-30 Bulava.
4 – Air-based warheads of Russia's Air Forces strategic bomber force
The challenges of carrying out reforms and modernizing have been magnified by difficult economic conditions in Russia, which have resulted in reduced defence spending. This has led to training cutbacks, wage reductions, and severe shortages of housing for other social amenities for military personnel, with a consequent lowering of morale, cohesion, and fighting effectiveness.
In 2005, Russia's expenditures on new military weapons surpassed overseas sales, which were about US$6.5 billion. For 2006, there was approximately $9 billion budgeted for military equipment purchases.
