Ministry of Defense
The president of the Russian Federation is the commander in chief, and executive authority over the military lies in the office of the president. The Government (the Council of Ministers) is responsible for maintaining the armed forces at the appropriate level of readiness. The State Duma exercises legislative authority through the Government. Direct leadership of the armed forces is vested in the Ministry of Defense, and until 2004 the General Staff exercised operational control. Since then, the minister of defense exercised operational authority, and the General Staff implements instructions and orders.
The Russian Armed Forces are national budget sponsored defense and fighting forces and organizations consisting of three major forces called the Ground Force (GF), the Air Force (AF) and the Navy to defend the homeland on land, in the air and at sea. There were, as of 2007, three other smaller-size Commands bearing responsibility for other spheres of armed defence -- Strategic Missiles, Space and Airborne Troops -- and two troops support Branches -- Logistics and Procurement and Accomodation of Troops. This structure was chosen following a number of transformations as the most adequate to contemporary threats to national defence and most comfortable for easy and cost effective command and control.
The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation was established as a federal executive body responsible for the formulation and conduct of the state defence policy, legislative acts related to defence and other functions set forth in federal constitutional laws, federal laws, and defence-related acts released by the President or the Government. Ministry of Defence comprises the Services of the Ministry, separate central command-and-control bodies and other units and exercises command over the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
The Ministry of Defense consists of the General Staff and a number of main and central directorates. At one time the Ministry of Defense was managed by a collegium of three first deputy ministers, six deputy ministers, and a chief military inspector, who together formed the principal staff and advisory board of the minister of defense. As of 2007 the pool of senior leaders comprised eight individuals -- three first deputy ministers, three deputy ministers, and two chiefs -- who report directly to Minister of Defence and advise him on the matters in their purview. They share responsibility for the MOD's goals, missions, efforts.
Chief of the General Staff (CGS) is the second post within the Russian MOD and the first with the General Staff, Russian Defence Headquarters. MOD State Secretary is an assistant to Minister of Defence on law matters. The duty of State Secretary in the Ministry of Defence is to supervize that the law abidance is ensured in all MOD initiatives and activities. The State Secretary is also entitled to supervise MOD and Armed Forces personnel policy. Chiefs of MOD Services have primary responsibility for their respective fields of activity (arms acquisition, troops accomodation, logistics and procurement, MOD and Armed Forces budgeting). Chief Executive of Minister's Office is in charge of Minister of Defence's personal staff of professional military and civilian assistants whos job is international defence matters, MOD public relations, financial control and MOD paperwork.
The Ministry of Defense directs the armed services and all military activities on a daily basis. It is responsible for fielding, arming, and supplying the armed services, and in peacetime all territorial commands of the armed forces reported to it. The Ministry of Defense has been staffed almost entirely by professional military personnel, and largely retains a monopoly on military information because Russia continues to lack independent defense research organizations frequently found in other countries. This monopoly gives high-ranking officers considerable influence with government leaders on issues, ranging from arms control to weapons development to arms sales abroad, that affect the position and prestige of the armed forces.
By tradition dating back to the tsars, the minister of defense normally was a uniformed officer. The State Duma also seated a large number of deputies who are active-duty military officers -- another tradition that began in the Russian imperial era. These combinations of military and civilian authority ensure that military concerns are considered at the highest levels of the Russian government. They also demonstrate that strict subordination of the military to civilian authority in the Western sense is neither a tradition nor a concern in Russia.
President Vladimir Putin named Sergei Ivanov as Russia's first civilian defense minister in March 2001. He is not to be confused with one-time Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. As with President Vladimir Putin, Sergei Borisovich Ivanov from St. Petersburg and served in the KGB. He first met met Vladimir Putin, who was serving in the same subsection Sergei Ivanov was in, in the late 1970s. Ivanov held postings as an intelligence officer in Scandinavia and Africa. In mid 1990's he became one of the youngest generals in the organization rising to the rank of Lieutenant-General before he "retired". In August 1998 he became Deputy Director of Russia's Federal Security Service and Chief of the organization's Department of Analysis, Forecasts and Strategic Planning. On 15 November 1999 he became Secretary of Russia's Security Council, at the suggestion of Vladimir Putin.
March 9, 2004 President Vladimir Putin signed the decree “On the System and Structure of Federal Executive Bodies”. The document highlights the main principles of the current administrative reform and defines the structure and functions of federal executive bodies (ministries, federal services and federal agencies). At the same time, President Putin signed decrees appointing members of the Government of the Russian Federation. He said this resulted in "... a new, more compact Government with one deputy prime minister and almost half the number of ministers. There used to be 30 ministers, including the Prime Minister, and now there are 17. ... the essential aim is not a mechanical amalgamation of departments, but in avoiding double-ups, to logically combine previously disconnected and isolated functions, to make new ministries more effective and influential, and give them more boost and independence." Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov succeeded in the consolidation of numerous functions under the direction of the Defense Ministry, including the Railroad Troops, the Special Construction Troops, Military-Technical Cooperation Service, Defense Order Service, Technical and Export Controls Service, as well as portions of the Federal Agency for Atomic Energy. As a result, the ministry grew by 100,000 people, and no reduction of either the ministry or the number of central military administrations was initially planned. According to Mr. Ivanov, “their numbers are within reasonable limits of about 1000 employees per 1.1 million military personnel”.
At that time there were said to be plans to reduce the present seven deputy ministers and two first deputy ministers to one deputy and one first deputy minister. The remaining six deputy ministers (commander-in-chief of the land forces, Army General Nikolai Kormiltsev; rear services commander, Army General Vladimir Isakov; commander of armaments, Colonel-General Aleksei Moskovsky; head of the Main Personnel Administration, Colonel-General Nikolai Pankov; commander of troop organization and quartering, Colonel-General Anatoly Grebenyuk; and head of the Main Financial and Economic Administration, Lyubov Kudelina) would no longer combined their duties with the job of deputy minister. [By 2008 there were two First Deputy Ministers of Defence, three Deputy Ministers of Defence, and three Chiefs of Services].
In respect of questions concerning the nuclear defense complex, the Defense Ministry also would control the Federal Agency for Atomic Energy, which is part of the new Ministry of Industry and Energy. The department’s oversight functions extend to the administrations for munitions, conventional weapon, guidance and control systems, and shipbuilding, which have been reestablished within the Industry and Energy Ministry in place of the analogous agencies that have been abolished. The Ministry acquired control of the entire defense industry complex (OPK, whose four agencies — the Russian Conventional Arms Agency [RAV], the Russian Agency for Control Systems [RASU], Rossudostroyeniye [Russian Shipbuilding Agency], and Rosboyepripasy [Russian Munitions Agency] — were disbanded.
Stripping the General Staff of virtually all of its administrative capabilities and transferring them to the MOD effectively centralized control in that ministry. In August 2004 Putin signed a classified decree that confirmed the ministry as the sole elaborator and implementer of defense policy.
On 11 June 2004 the Russian Duma passed a law that gave Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov operational control of the army. The lower house of parliament deleted most of the responsibilities of the General Staff, headed by Army General Anatolii Kvashnin. Legislators struck out a line in the federal legislation stating that they "represent the main organ of the operational command of the armed forces of the Russian Federation." This duty would now lie with the Defense Ministry. The Defense Ministry and the General Staff had battled for much of the past decade over control of Russian military operations and army financing. Ivanov managed to implement the idea of establishing a common arms procurement service for all security and law enforcement agencies. He formulated the parameters for state arms procurement to 2015, tying the need to purchase specific types of weaponry to the Armed Forces Development Concept and perceived threats to Russia's security. All this was set out in the Defense Ministry's White Book: "Current Objectives for Armed Forces Development."
After being appointed Deputy Prime Minister in November 2005, Russia's defense minister became not only the official responsible for the state's defense capabilities, but a significant political figure. Evidence of that can be found in Sergei Ivanov's latest appointments. In his six years with the military, Russia's first civilian defense minister became the deputy prime minister in charge of the defense industry, the chairman of the government's Military-Industrial Commission, and the head of the Unified Aviation Corporation. Ivanov was appointed as the official responsible for civil aviation flight safety, and for GLONASS development.
Ivanov was promoted to the post of First Deputy Prime Minister in February 2007. At that time, Sergei Ivanov was removed as Minister of Defense, and considered a strong candidate for the presidential elections in 2008, along with fellow First Deputy Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev. "The prime minister has repeatedly raised the necessity of changing the government's structure. One of the main problems is giving the Russian economy more innovative features," Putin said. He said he hopes "the civil sector will help expand the positive experience in the military industrial sector."
On February 15, 2007, a Presidential Decree appointed Anatoly Serdyukov as Minister of Defense. Anatoly Serdyukov was born on January 8, 1962 in Krasnodar region. Graduated from Leningrad Institute for the Soviet trade (1984). Later, he graduated from Saint-Petersburg State University, Law Faculty. From 1984 to 1985 he served in the Armed Forces. From 2000 to 2001 he occupied position of deputy head of the inter-district Inspection of the Taxes Ministry (St.Petersburg large-scale tax-payers). In May 2001 he was appointed deputy head of St.Petersburg Tax authority, later head of St.Petersburg Tax authority of the Ministry of Taxes. In March 2004 became deputy head of Russian Federation Tax Ministry. According to the order of the Head of Government as of 27 July 2004 Anatoly Serdyukov was delegated the duties of head of Federal Tax Service. Mr. Serdyukov was delegated the power and responsibilities of Minister of Defence according to the President’s Decree on February 15, 2007.
