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Russia to Cut 350,000 Troops: Defence Minister
Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev confirmed on Friday media reports that Moscow was planning to cut its armed forces by almost a third by 2003, Interfax news agency reported.
Asked if reports that Russia would cut 350,000 servicemen from its current total of about 1,200,000 between 2001 and 2003 were true, Sergeyev was quoted by the agency as saying:
"Decisions to do so have been made and proposals to the president on their implementation are being worked out."
President Vladimir Putin has said Russia needs to radically overhaul its outsized armed forces, inherited from the Soviet Union which spent a large chunk of its budget preparing for an all-out war against NATO.
Plans for military reform have been on the table for much of the post-Soviet era but have not been implemented, forcing the military to live on a shoe-string and see its hardware deteriorate beyond safety limits.
The sinking last month of the nuclear submarine Kursk, killing all 118 crew, highlighted the dismal state of equipment and infrastructure.
Putin has said Russia will have a smaller, more professional military in line with post-Cold War threats and its weakened economic position.
The independent military news agency AVN said on Thursday the armed forces would be cut to 800,000 to make more effective use of limited budget resources. Sergeyev did not give any figures for what the final total would be.
Interfax quoted sources as saying land-based forces are due to shed 180,000 troops, the navy 50,000 and the air force 40,000.
It said logistics and auxiliary units as well as Russia's Strategic Rocket Forces, which control its land-based nuclear arsenal, would have to slim dramatically.
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