Moscow military leadership rejects report on troop unrest

Europe News

Nov 29, 2008, 17:39 GMT

Moscow - The Russian Defence Ministry on Saturday denied reports of protests by leading military personnel against planned army reforms by the Kremlin. The report by the daily Kommersant, which wrote of resignations of high-ranking officers and 'open dissatisfaction' by the military rank-and-file, was described by a Defence Ministry spokesman as a 'scandalous lie.' There was no disunity over the planned military course, the unnamed spokesman was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying. The spokesman also denied reports that soldiers had been banned from speaking to the press about the reforms. 'On the contrary, we are in continual dialogue with the media,' the spokesman said. According to the Kommersant report, among the dissatisfied officers were special forces soldiers who had served in Chechnya. 'The reform is arousing serious dissatisfaction in all parts of the military structure,' Kommmersant, which quoted parliamentarian Mikhail Babitch as saying that 'disgust was growing' in the army and in society. The miliary leadership plans to reduce the number of officers by 160,000 by 2012, or to around half of its current size, said Military Chief of STaff Nikolai Makarov recently. According to Makarov, the proposed changes stem from the need for reform in both the army and navy. In the future, the military will likely only around have about 150,000 officers, or around 15 per cent of the total military. Defence Minister Anatoli Serdyukov previously announced that Russia, in its pursuit of reform, would reduce the number of its soldiers to around 1 million.

Talkback

Add your comment (no registration required)

page: 1

johnNov 29th, 2008 - 18:31:06

just the same old IDIOTIC anti-russian propaganda.

Report this comment

They are Making ImprovementsDec 9th, 2008 - 08:55:45

Probably is the SOS. The Bear is not hibernating.

Report this comment

page: 1

Add your comment (no registration required)

Similar articles

Russian president signs new security strategy paper
Russia maps out Arctic military force
Medvedev links NATO expansion to reform of nuclear forces
Russia "considering temporarily basing bombers in Cuba, Venezuela"
Russia cuts defence spending 15 per cent amid revenues crunch

Latest Headlines in Europe

Europe: Index

: News; Features; Video News

Latest Articles on The Tech Herald

BitDefender: Trojans amounted for half of threats discovered in June
Q&A: Proginet CIO Kevin Bohan
iPhone 3GS sends AT&T registers into overdrive
Apple revises support document regarding hot 3GS handsets
SingTel confirms iPhone 3GS coming to Singapore

In Monsters and Critics

: Arts; Books; DVD; Gaming; Lifestyle; Movies; Music; News; People; Science & Nature; Sport; TV; Archives
Other Languages and Sites: Deutschland (Monsters and Critics); The Tech Herald; Free Games

Entertainment: Arts; Books; DVD; Gaming; Movies; Music; People; Soundtracks; TV
Media: Celebrity Photos; Movie Pictures; Movie Trailers; Movie Posters; Theatre Stills; Celebrity Video; Music Video
Released this week: Movies - USA; Movies - UK; DVD - USA
Distractions: Online Games; Daily Crossword; Sudoku Classic; Daily Jigsaw

World News: US; UK; Americas; Europe; Middle East; Asia Pacific; South Asia; Africa; Business; Education; Health
Science and Tech: Science and Nature; Technology
Lifestyle: Autos; Horoscope; Life; Travel

Corporate

: About; Advertise; Contact; The Team; Vacancies; Privacy; RSS; Site Map; Terms; Webmasters

The Fine Print

© 2003 - 2009 by Monsters and Critics.com, WotR Ltd. All Rights Reserved. All photos are copyright their respective owners and are used under license or with permission. * Note M&C cannot be held responsible for the content on other Web Sites.

Servers supplied by Servint