, LONDON, Oct. 15 (Xinhuanet) — Russia's progress in military reform remains slow and is complicating Russian President Vladimir Putin's policy of modernization and integration with the West, a British think tank chief said on Wednesday.
No radical steps are likely before Putin's re-election in 2005. In the meantime, Russia's own security policy remains centered on developments in Chechnya and countering the increasing risk of suicide terrorism in Russian cities including Moscow,” John Chipman, director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, told reporters at a press launch of IISS annualreport, The Military Balance.
“If there is an area where Russia will concentrate more, it is Central Asia. Here, while Putin acquiesced to the increasing US military presence in the region following the Sept. 11 (terrorist attacks on the United States), there is now more concern about these mi-permanent nature of US basing arrangements in Central Asia,” Chipman said as he provided the main conclusion as well as a briefanalysis of some current strategic trends from and covered by The Military Balance.
“Moscow has countered by increasing its own military bases in the region, and moving to give more meaning to the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) collective security arrangements,” Chipman added.
In its annual assessment of the military capabilities and defense economics of 169 countries worldwide, the IISS also said Russian forces have suffered more casualties in the past year in Chechnya than at any time since war resumed in 1999.
Russian forces “suffered 4,749 casualties in 2003-2004, the highest figure in one year since the current Chechen conflict began,” the report said.
