| Airbornelawyer |
11-10-2005 11:26 |
Russia
- PRESIDENT SAYS CONSCRIPTION TO BE REDUCED TO ONE YEAR BY 2008...
President Vladimir Putin said on 9 November that the period of military conscription must be reduced to one year by the beginning of 2008, Russian news agencies reported the same day. "We must, without cutting the combat efficiency of the army and navy, ensure the reduction of the conscription service term to 12 months beginning 1 January 2008," RIA-Novosti quoted Putin as saying. Speaking at a conference of top military commanders, Putin said the change must be made without reducing the armed forces' combat readiness. The current length of conscription in the Russian military is two years. Putin added that steps need to be taken to increase the number of volunteers, or "contract soldiers," in the Russian armed forces. "Military units on permanent standby must become the basis of the military forces," mosnews.com quoted Putin as saying.
- ...AND PROMISES TO RAISE SOLDIERS' PAY AND VETERANS' PENSIONS
Putin pledged on 9 November to raise the salaries for military personnel and pensions for veterans, RIA-Novosti reported the same day. Salaries for those serving in the armed forces are to be increased by 67 percent over the next three years, including a 15 percent pay increase that will be implemented on 1 January 2006, Putin said. Pensions will be increased accordingly, he added. The president also said that by 2015, 70 percent of military spending must be used to modernize the army and navy, with the remaining 30 percent used for maintenance. "Only in this way will we be able to advance in substantial technical modernization of the armed forces, rather than patching up holes," Putin said. "Special attention should be paid to equipping the Russian Army permanent combat-ready units with high-accuracy weapons and effective reconnaissance and electronic-warfare systems, as well as automated command-and-control systems."
- TOP GENERAL CASTS DOUBT ON MODERNIZATION PLAN
Yurii Baluevskii, the chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, expressed doubts on 9 November that the country's military-industrial complex will be able to supply the military with advanced weapons by 2011, RIA-Novosti reported the same day. "My colleagues and I are not completely sure that we will get the weapons we need by 2011," Baluevskii said at the same conference attended by Putin. "One of the reasons for that is the lack of proper coordination between military-technical policy and the capabilities of the Russian military-industrial complex," he said, noting that defense industries are not centrally coordinated by the Defense Ministry.
- DZERZHINSKII BUST RETURNS TO PETROVKA 38
Moscow police chief Lieutenant General Vladimir Pronin, has ordered that a bust of Feliks Dzerzhinskii be restored to its original site in the courtyard of the Moscow Main Directorate of the Interior Ministry, Russia news agencies reported on 9 November. The bust of the founder of the Soviet Union's state-security organs was removed in 1991 due to fears that it would share the same fate of a large statue of Dzerzhinskii that stood on Moscow's Lubyanskaya Square until an angry mob toppled it. Pronin said the monument was being returned to its original home for Police Day on 10 November, and to honor veterans of the security services. The Soviet secret police (VChK), originally formed as the Workers and Peasant Militia in 1918, was among the state security organs founded by Dzerzhinskii. The human-rights watchdog Memorial issued a protest statement, saying: "Dzerzhinskii was the founder of the political repressions and persecution system in the Soviet Russia. He fought not criminals, but political opponents -- and initiated the fabrication of legal cases against dissidents, arrests and executions without trials, and hostage taking," RosBalt reported on 9 November.
- IS RUSSIA STABLE?
Russia finished 59 in a ranking of 60 countries that are facing possible disintegration, "Kommersant-Daily" and "Nezavisimaya gazeta" reported on 9 November. The Failed State Index was compiled by "Foreign Policy" magazine and the U.S.-based Fund for Peace and was featured in the publication's July/August issue. The dailies used the occasion of the publication to question several Russian analysts regarding their views of Russia's stability. In an interview with "Kommersant-Daily," Rostislav Turovskii of the Center for Political Technology concluded that Russia's relatively low rating "reflects the tactical victory of the Kremlin over regional elites.... Regional authorities are completely under the control of federal authorities and cannot and will not undertake any attempts to detach [from Russia]." However, he suggested that the growing distance between central Russia and Muslim republics poses a threat to Russia's stability, and this threat cannot be fixed by strengthening "vertical power." Iosif Diskin of the Population Institute suggested that the federal districts could pose a threat to Russia in "within 15 years." He said that the districts have enormous natural resources and large geopolitical struggles are already taking place around them. He advised that it is therefore of great importance not to let them turn into state structures.
- COSSACK BILL PASSES IN LOWER LEGISLATIVE CHAMBER.
State Duma deputies approved on 9 November in its third and final reading a presidential bill on state service pertaining to Russian Cossacks, Russian news agencies reported. The bill establishes legal and organizational foundations for involving Russian Cossacks in state service and regulates their guarding of state borders and combating terrorism. It also addresses Cossacks' participation in the military and in handling natural disasters, Interfax reported. The bill defines Cossack organizational units, such as villages and host societies. Deputies also supported in its first reading a bill on amending the law on the Public Chamber, gazeta.ru reported. Under the bill, the chamber would have the responsibility to monitor freedom of speech in the mass media.
Transcaucasia And Central Asia- GEORGIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY AGAIN ASSAILS RUSSIAN PEACEKEEPERS
The Georgian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on 9 November, its second in four days, criticizing the alleged failure of the Russian peacekeeping force deployed in the Abkhaz conflict zone to protect local Georgians from reprisals by "criminal groupings" allied with the Abkhaz police, Caucasus Press and rustavi2.com reported. The statement specifically expressed concern over the abduction on 8 November from the village of Saberio of an elderly Georgian man.
Southeastern Europe- RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS TROOPS NEED TO REMAIN IN TRANSDNIESTER
Sergei Lavrov said in Bucharest on 8 November that Russian troops must remain in Transdniester after a settlement, Flux reported the same day. "Those who are interested in a peaceful settling of the Transdniester issue, on the basis of the documents in force, must also support further stationing of the military contingent there," Lavrov said. "Without their presence the munitions may fall into the hands of certain third parties, which is an undesirable thing," he added. In an interview with the Russian daily "Moskovskii komsomolets" on 9 November, Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin continued to insist that Russian troops should leave. Voronin said he refused to sign a 2003 agreement settling the conflict because Russia inserted a provision at the last minute calling for a Russian military base to remain in Transdniester for 20 years. "I picked up the phone and called Putin: 'If that page stays in, there's no question of signing the document. I'm not prepared to do that!'" Voronin said.
Southwestern Asia And The Middle East- AL-QAEDA REPORTEDLY APPOINTS COMMANDERS FOR AFGHANISTAN
Al-Qaeda has appointed two Arabs as field commanders for southeast and southwest areas of Afghanistan, Pajhwak Afghan News reported on 9 November, based on video that the news agency acquired from Peshawar, Pakistan. According to the report, Khaled Habib has been put in charge of southeastern provinces while Abd al-Hadi Iraqi has been assigned to the southwestern provinces of Afghanistan. During the rule of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Iraqi was commander of foreign fighters in the country and he later commanded Arab fighters in northern Afghanistan's Takhar Province against the United Front (Northern Alliance). Habib, who is reportedly from Morocco, also commanded Arab fighters during the Taliban's rule.
- UN SECURITY COUNCIL EXTENDS MANDATE FOR MULITNATIONAL FORCES IN IRAQ.
The United Nations Security Council unanimously extended on 9 November the mandate of multinational forces in Iraq until the end of 2006, according to the UN website (http://www.un.org). Security Council Resolution 1637 also called for the continuation of depositing Iraq's revenues from the export of petroleum and natural gas products to the Development Fund for Iraq until 31 December 2006. The fund will continue to be monitored by the International Advisory and Monitoring Board (http://www.iamb.info).
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