DATE=7/15/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA/PUTIN ARMY (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-264447
BYLINE=EVE CONANT
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Russian President Vladimir Putin met with the
country's top military brass [EDS: high ranking
officers] on Saturday and urged them to work together
toward reforming Russia's army. V-O-A Moscow
correspondent Eve Conant reports the meeting comes
amid a publicized quarrel between Russia's armed
forces chiefs over a plan to put nuclear missiles
under centralized command.
TEXT: President Putin met on Saturday with Russia's
military and security chiefs and ordered them to work
together toward resolving problems of the development
of Russia's armed forces ahead of a Russian Security
Council meeting later in July.
The meeting comes as Russia's defense minister, Igor
Sergeyev, and the chief of the General Staff, Anatoly
Kvashnin, are engaged in a feud over the fate of
Russia's strategic nuclear rocket forces.
Earlier this week, Chief of Staff Kvashnin suggested
the rocket forces be eliminated as a branch of the
military and to have Russia's nuclear missiles brought
under centralized command.
The suggestion sparked an outcry from Defense Minister
Sergeyev, who once served as chief of the rocket
forces and supports their independent status. On
Friday the usually reserved defense minister publicly
called the suggestion a "psychotic attack" and "plain
madness."
Russia's media has speculated the defense minister
could lose his job, especially following a meeting
last week with President Putin, where Defense Minister
Sergeyev was criticized for military setbacks in
Chechnya.
The meeting Saturday was attended by Mr. Putin, the
two military leaders and the secretary of Russia's
Security Council. Presidential press secretary Alexei
Gromov says Mr. Putin ordered them to work together to
form the "basic aspects of the development of Russia's
armed forces to the year 2010."
Mr. Gromov added that the Russian president
"highlighted the need for work on reform of the armed
forces to be carried out thoroughly and from all
sides." (Signed)
NEB/EC/ALW/JP
15-Jul-2000 08:33 AM EDT (15-Jul-2000 1233 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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