Despite opposition from top military generals, Russia is moving ahead with an overhaul of the country’s armed forces. 35,000 officers will be fired in 2009 to streamline the military.
The shrinking numbers are part of Russia’s wider military reforms and modernization. Moscow wants to trim the force below one million by 2012 (the Soviet Army included four million members and today there are 1.13 million troops) and the cuts are not limited to officers.
Those who stand in the way of the changes risk being swept aside. On Friday, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev replaced Gen Valentin Korabelnikov, director of the military intelligence agency. Gen Korabelnikov reportedly resisted the Kremlin’s planned reforms.
Photo from Joao Silva for The New York Times.
