Russian Military Reform: Empty Promises With the Wrong Focus

摘要

Do the Russian government and military leaders truly care about military reform or is it merely a popular topic for public speeches. If the concern is there, where should military change be focused. This thesis will show that reform is elusive for the Russian military because those in power, those responsible for the task of improving the military machine (the government and military leaders) often ignore the most fundamental part of the military structure - the individual troops themselves. It appears they assume that combat capability and defense are improved via limited purchase of more advanced hardware and material supplies and as a result of those upgrades, the reform of the troops will soon follow without any prompting from the leadership. That is a mistaken theory. It is also erroneous to suppose that troop issues will resolve themselves with the implementation of organizational changes. Yet that is just what the Russian military presumes.