Military Rank

ARMY	NAVY	AIR FORCE
MARSHAL OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
GENERAL OF  ARMY	ADMIRAL OF  THE FLEET	MARSHAL OF  AVIATION
COLONEL  GENERAL	ADMIRAL	COLONEL  GENERAL
LIEUTENANT  GENERAL	VICE  ADMIRAL	LIEUTENANT  GENERAL
MAJOR  GENERAL	REAR  ADMIRAL	MAJOR  GENERAL
COLONEL	CAPTAIN 1ST CLASS	COLONEL
LIEUTENANT   COLONEL	CAPTAIN 2ND CLASS	LIEUTENANT   COLONEL
MAJOR	CAPTAIN 3RD CLASS	MAJOR
CAPTAIN	CAPTAIN  LIEUTENANT	CAPTAIN
SENIOR  LIEUTENANT	SENIOR  LIEUTENANT	SENIOR  LIEUTENANT
LIEUTENANT	LIEUTENANT	LIEUTENANT
SENIOR WARRANT OFFICER	SENIOR WARRANT OFFICER	SENIOR WARRANT OFFICER
WARRANT OFFICER	SENIOR  CHIEF  PETTY  OFFICER	WARRANT OFFICER
MASTER SERGEANT	CHIEF  PETTY OFFICER	MASTER SERGEANT
SENIOR SERGEANT	PETTY OFFICER  1ST CLASS	SENIOR SERGEANT
SERGEANT	PETTY OFFICER  2ND CLASS	SERGEANT
JUNIOR SERGEANT	SENIOR SEAMAN	JUNIOR SERGEANT
PRIVATE	SEAMAN	PRIVATE

The Russian Federation has pursued the development of a professional enlisted component in the Russian Armed Forces since the early 1990s. Soviets inherited a strong NCO corps from the Tsarist Army (the Imperial Russian Army, 1721 - 1917). The strong NCO corps that emerged after the WWII soon disappeared as these NCOs either left the service or became commissioned officers. In the Soviet Armed Forces, officers, not NCOs, became the primary small unit leaders and trainers. The Soviet two-year conscription model for the enlisted personnel had no real career path for those who desired to serve past their initial conscription length.

Soviet officers performed duties that would normally be performed by NCOs in Western armies. The Soviets recognized this was an inefficient way of managing manpower, and decided to create “warrant officer” positions primarily to maintain and operate advanced equipment. The Russian Federation abolished all warrant officer positions during the 2008 “New Look” reforms and converted all warrant officers into contract NCOs. Warrant officer billets have since been brought back.

In the Russia system, officers, not NCOs, are the primary trainers of the platoon. But conscripts will be unable to be effective warfighters on the modern battlefield because the conscription period in the Russian Federation has been reduced to one year.

The post of chief sergeant was introduced in the Southern Military District (SKR) as an initiative experiment. At the same time, new staff posts in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation will not be introduced, the Defense Ministry said on 24 May 2019. The district press service announced the introduction of the post of chief sergeant. According to her, 370 main sergeants arrived in Rostov-on-Don for the last training and methodological gathering. "No new full-time positions of chief sergeants in the Russian Armed Forces will be introduced. In the Southern Military District, they initiatively conducted an experiment to identify sergeants, whose best practices are being generalized and who can set up a team to achieve success in combat training and professional skills by their personal example," said the military department.

The position of chief sergeant was introduced in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. This is stated in the press service of the Southern Military District, distributed on 24 May 2019. "Colonel General Alexander Dvornikov, commander of the troops of the Southern Military District, held a meeting with the chief sergeants of the formations and military units," the statement read.

According to the district, 370 chief sergeants arrived in Rostov-on-Don. Earlier in the district, the best sergeant-level military personnel were selected. A special requirement for the appointment of chief sergeants was the presence of leadership qualities and authority in the military team, both among subordinates and equal military personnel, and among officers of a military unit, the report said.

As Dvornikov noted, “the chief sergeant is the first assistant to the commander of the unit, capable of replacing an officer for the time, ensuring discipline and personal example of setting up a soldier’s team to achieve success in combat training and professional training.”

The fact that in the Russian army may be introduced new posts of chief sergeant and master sergeant, said in 2011, Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Pankov. Then the general said that there is an understanding of the need to introduce a new institution.

In 2011 Pankov explained that it was planned to introduce the posts of sergeant-manager or administrator. As an example, he called the post of master-sergeant of the regiment or the post of chief sergeant of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.