Medvedev finalizes military reform in Russia
President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a decree “on the military-administrative division of Russia”, which finalizes the country’s military reform.
The decree reforms Russia’s former six military districts into four bigger joint commands – Southern, Central, Eastern and Western, the president’s website Kremlin.ru explains. Medvedev ordered the creation of these four commands back in June 2010, but it is only now that the process has been officially shaped.
On September 1, the first of the commands – Western – was created on the base of the former Leningrad and Moscow districts. The Northern and the Baltic Fleets were also attached to the Western command.
The Western Joint Command will be led by General-Colonel Arkady Bakhin, the Defense Ministry’s web site reads. He comes from the positions as Commander of the Privolzhsky-Ural Military District.
The remaining districts will be reorganized into three other joint commands by December 1, 2010. The four headquarters will be situated in St. Petersburg, Ekaterinburg, Rostov-on-Don, and Khabarovsk respectively.
The reforms should not lead to any more reductions in the numbers of officers, newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets writes. Russia already has plans to reduce the number of officers from 355 000 to 150 000 by 2012.
