Mikhail Tsypkin

Russia's Failure

Abstract:The origins of todays Russian intelligence services suggest that their transition to real democratic civilian control—which has yet to happen—is likely to be anything but easy. While the last months of the Soviet Unions existence saw the splitting of the KGB into several agencies, there has been no basic change in either the personnel of the state-security establishment or the its broad scope of responsibilities. Nothing about the underlying situation will change until the Russian people face the malign role that spies and secret police responsible only to some supreme leader have played in their countrys history.

Russia, America and missile defense

Russia has sharply objected to US plans for ballistic missile defense. The Russian official explanation is that the real purpose of the US missile defense plan is to make it impossible for Russia to retaliate against a US nuclear (or massive conventional) attack, thus making Russia subject to military blackmail by the US. The Russian response has been the result of a sum total of various factors, mostly political and cultural, while the technical capabilities of the proposed system have played a secondary role.

Will the Military Rule Russia

Views and opinions expressed in this article are the authors solely, and are not meant to reflect the views and opinions of the Department of the Navy or any agency of the U.S. government. The author would like to express his appreciation to Roman Laba and Paul Stockton for their comments. Amy Corning directed the authors attention to several Russian public opinion polls. Elisa Moskowitz made useful stylistic suggestions.

Military reform and strategic nuclear forces of the Russian federation

Russian Minister of Defense Marshal Igor Sergeyev has proposed merging the Strategic Rocket Forces and strategic nuclear components of the Navy and Air Force. Advocates of the proposed reform invoke Russias need to increase its reliance on nuclear weapons in view of the decline in its conventional forces, as well as the potential savings from the merger. Critics of the plan view it as favoring the Strategic Rocket Forces at the expense of the rest of the military, and as prohibitively expensive. The NATO campaign in Kosovo has made Marshal Sergey ev vulnerable to criticism for emphasizing nuclear forces over conventional ones, and the plan has been put on hold.