Russian Military Doctrine and Deployments

Russian military planners today, as in the spring of 1992, when the Russian Ministry of Defense, General Staff, and armed forces were reconstituted after seventy years, face truly formidable tasks. Although inheriting many of the assets of the Soviet armed forces, they also inherited many of its encumbrances, as well as new difficulties created by the changed post-Soviet situation. Not only is the external environment suddenly, drastically changed, so too is the internal foundation of the armed forces and of the state itself. Not only is there a need for identification and definition of possible external threats, there is also a new need for identification and definition of the Russian state and its interests. Even the dividing line between what is “internal” and “external” is blurred and in flux. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was gone in a flash, but what succeeded it? It was succeeded by the Russian Federation and eleven other republics, as well as a Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)—which initially had extensive if vague and, as it turned out, largely ephemeral responsibilities for the armed forces.