Russian Defense Ministry Reportedly Planning Radical Redrawing Of Military District Borders – OpEd

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Military sources tell AiF-Urals that the defense ministry is currently planning to reverse the 2010 military district reform and go back in large measure to the borders of such structures existing prior to that time, a step that may save money but will allow for the reassignment of numerous commanders.

According to the report, three of the four currently existing military administrative arrangements will be restructured. The Central Military District, headquartered in Yekaterinburg, will be divided up with the larger share going to a renewed and expanded Siberian MD (ural.aif.ru/society/situation/ozvucheny_plany_po_reforme_armii_centralnyy_voennyy_okrug_podelyat

In the European portion of the country, the report says, Moscow plans to go back to the “Soviet” pattern of having a Moscow MD and a Leningrad MD, the borders of which are still being discussed. The Southern MD will remain in its current borders. The reforms are to occur later this year and be completed by 2020.

The AiF-Urals source said that the center plans to relocate military units when this reform occurs in order that each MD will have what it needs to carry out its “strategic tasks.”  The 2010 reforms which included more than just the redrawing of borders were extremely unpopular among commanders. This is the latest and perhaps last part of a plan to reverse them.

Paul Goble

Paul Goble is a longtime specialist on ethnic and religious questions in Eurasia. Most recently, he was director of research and publications at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy. Earlier, he served as vice dean for the social sciences and humanities at Audentes University in Tallinn and a senior research associate at the EuroCollege of the University of Tartu in Estonia. He has served in various capacities in the U.S. State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency and the International Broadcasting Bureau as well as at the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Mr. Goble maintains the Window on Eurasia blog and can be contacted directly at [email protected] .

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