Guardia Bolivariano
6th March 2003, 20:05
This translation of sections of an article from Nezavisimaja
Gazeta which has attracted a great deal of interest is being sent
to you for your information. ( ... indicates omissions.)
"Strategy for Reforming the Military Forces of the Russian
Federation," by Valeri Dementjev (Lieutenant General, Doctor of
Technology) and Anton Surikov (Adviser, Defense Research
Institute) Nezavisimaja Gazeta, 11 April 1996
Russia's potential adversaries
One of the basic principles of the Russian Federation's military
doctrine of 1993 is the theory that Russia does not have foreign
enemies. Reality has shown this theory to be erroneous. Taking
advantage of the weakness of the Russian state and the continued
decline of its military-economic potential, Russia's foreign
adversaries are showing themselves more and more boldly and
openly.
As of today, Russia's fundamental potential adversaries remain
the USA and the NATO states...It is apparent that, at present,
Russia does not pose a military threat to NATO members.
Therefore, NATO has an offensive nature...Plans to expand that
union toward the east have to be viewed as openly aggressive.
In the territory of the former Soviet Union, the primary enemy
for Russia are the forces of aggressive nationalism, which
operate with assistance from abroad and which have their own
armed units: army, police and other paramilitary formations in
the
Baltic republics, the illegal armed organizations of Dudayev, the
Tadzhik opposition and others.
The main causes inspiring conflicts with the participation
of Russian armed forces on the territory of the former Soviet
Union:
a) enmity among nationalities, genocide against national
minorities. It appears that, in the foreseeable future, two
basic factors will begin to cause interethnic conflicts. First
the fact that as a result of the events of 1991, the Russian
national entity has been divided. Due to this, the objective
tendency of a national reunification is gathering momentum.
Second, discrimination of ethnic minorities is taking place in
all countries of the former Soviet Union, with the exception of
Belarus and perhaps Ukraine. This practice is most striking in
the Baltics, where human rights oppression based upon nationality
has been raised by Western institutions, for example the Council
of Europe, to the level of official policy. The Baltic area is
the most explosive region, when considering the possibility of
the development of new hotbeds of conflict with the participation
of the armed forces of the Russian Federation...
B) Attempts by nationalistic forces to seize power with the
force of arms or then to retain power in one or another republic
of the former Soviet Union.
c) The making of territorial claims against the Russian
Federation, attempts to illegally occupy marine resources and
inland waters belonging to the Russian Federation. Up until now,
Russia has been able to avoid direct involvement in such armed
conflicts. But this is not out of the question, especially in
connection with the direction the Baku regime is taking in
usurping part of the Caspian Sea...
The part of the Baltic Sea which belongs to Russia but is being
claimed by Lithuania is another potential hotbed of conflict.
Also known are the claims of the ethnocratic regimes in Tallinn
and Riga to parts of Russia's northwestern territory.
d) The aspirations of some forces in the former Soviet Union,
primarily in the Baltics, to integrate with the NATO block. In
these cases we cannot rule out the preemptive use of force by the
armed forces of the Russian Federation against nationalistic
armed formations with the aim of decisively putting down possible
practical steps to carry out the above mentioned provocative
plans...
In the event of a further escalation in confrontation, especially
if NATO begins to implement its plans to expand to the east....
some of our missile and aviation outfits should be provided with
nuclear arms. With the aim of giving our probable adversary a
convincing demonstration of the determination of the Russian
Federation to prevent a NATO advance onto the territory of the
former Soviet Union, part of the resources of the operational-
tactical defense (OTSS) should also be shifted to the border,
especially the Russian-Norwegian border, to Russian Federation
bases in Armenia, Georgia, Adzhaaria, Abhaasia, the Kaliningrad
special region and Belarus.
Elite units
It is practical to assign the basic functions of carrying out
local wars in the former Soviet Union to specialized elite units
- mobile formations of the armed forces of the Russian
Federation....
A typical special operation to free a certain large area of the
former Soviet Union from nationalists with the participation of
mobile formations must be based upon the following principles...
In the first phase, the air force, GRU spetsnaz and federal
security services and foreign intelligence special groups will
carry out the first strike, with the aim of destroying and
occupying the adversary's most important targets and to liquidate
its military and political leadership; then the mobile units
supported by the air force and navy will carry out the smashing
and destruction of the adversary's units and the occupation of
its territory. They will be followed by land forces and Russian
Federation Ministry of the Interior units, which should have as
much experience as possible with military operations. They will
assume control of especially important objects and will carry out
a local "cleansing."
Next, getting support from the militia, which will be formed from
representatives of the pro-Russian parts of the local population,
they will consolidate control over the territory, begin
filtration of nationalists and the deportation of some categories
of citizens from different areas. It must be stressed that until
the completion of the special operation, the local authorities
will be needed only to the extent that they are useful in
assisting to establish military control over the territory.
An extremely important role in carrying out the basic
assignments of the armed forces belongs to military intelligence.
The highest priority must be given to the further development and
toincreasing the effectiveness of the GRU.
Gazeta which has attracted a great deal of interest is being sent
to you for your information. ( ... indicates omissions.)
"Strategy for Reforming the Military Forces of the Russian
Federation," by Valeri Dementjev (Lieutenant General, Doctor of
Technology) and Anton Surikov (Adviser, Defense Research
Institute) Nezavisimaja Gazeta, 11 April 1996
Russia's potential adversaries
One of the basic principles of the Russian Federation's military
doctrine of 1993 is the theory that Russia does not have foreign
enemies. Reality has shown this theory to be erroneous. Taking
advantage of the weakness of the Russian state and the continued
decline of its military-economic potential, Russia's foreign
adversaries are showing themselves more and more boldly and
openly.
As of today, Russia's fundamental potential adversaries remain
the USA and the NATO states...It is apparent that, at present,
Russia does not pose a military threat to NATO members.
Therefore, NATO has an offensive nature...Plans to expand that
union toward the east have to be viewed as openly aggressive.
In the territory of the former Soviet Union, the primary enemy
for Russia are the forces of aggressive nationalism, which
operate with assistance from abroad and which have their own
armed units: army, police and other paramilitary formations in
the
Baltic republics, the illegal armed organizations of Dudayev, the
Tadzhik opposition and others.
The main causes inspiring conflicts with the participation
of Russian armed forces on the territory of the former Soviet
Union:
a) enmity among nationalities, genocide against national
minorities. It appears that, in the foreseeable future, two
basic factors will begin to cause interethnic conflicts. First
the fact that as a result of the events of 1991, the Russian
national entity has been divided. Due to this, the objective
tendency of a national reunification is gathering momentum.
Second, discrimination of ethnic minorities is taking place in
all countries of the former Soviet Union, with the exception of
Belarus and perhaps Ukraine. This practice is most striking in
the Baltics, where human rights oppression based upon nationality
has been raised by Western institutions, for example the Council
of Europe, to the level of official policy. The Baltic area is
the most explosive region, when considering the possibility of
the development of new hotbeds of conflict with the participation
of the armed forces of the Russian Federation...
B) Attempts by nationalistic forces to seize power with the
force of arms or then to retain power in one or another republic
of the former Soviet Union.
c) The making of territorial claims against the Russian
Federation, attempts to illegally occupy marine resources and
inland waters belonging to the Russian Federation. Up until now,
Russia has been able to avoid direct involvement in such armed
conflicts. But this is not out of the question, especially in
connection with the direction the Baku regime is taking in
usurping part of the Caspian Sea...
The part of the Baltic Sea which belongs to Russia but is being
claimed by Lithuania is another potential hotbed of conflict.
Also known are the claims of the ethnocratic regimes in Tallinn
and Riga to parts of Russia's northwestern territory.
d) The aspirations of some forces in the former Soviet Union,
primarily in the Baltics, to integrate with the NATO block. In
these cases we cannot rule out the preemptive use of force by the
armed forces of the Russian Federation against nationalistic
armed formations with the aim of decisively putting down possible
practical steps to carry out the above mentioned provocative
plans...
In the event of a further escalation in confrontation, especially
if NATO begins to implement its plans to expand to the east....
some of our missile and aviation outfits should be provided with
nuclear arms. With the aim of giving our probable adversary a
convincing demonstration of the determination of the Russian
Federation to prevent a NATO advance onto the territory of the
former Soviet Union, part of the resources of the operational-
tactical defense (OTSS) should also be shifted to the border,
especially the Russian-Norwegian border, to Russian Federation
bases in Armenia, Georgia, Adzhaaria, Abhaasia, the Kaliningrad
special region and Belarus.
Elite units
It is practical to assign the basic functions of carrying out
local wars in the former Soviet Union to specialized elite units
- mobile formations of the armed forces of the Russian
Federation....
A typical special operation to free a certain large area of the
former Soviet Union from nationalists with the participation of
mobile formations must be based upon the following principles...
In the first phase, the air force, GRU spetsnaz and federal
security services and foreign intelligence special groups will
carry out the first strike, with the aim of destroying and
occupying the adversary's most important targets and to liquidate
its military and political leadership; then the mobile units
supported by the air force and navy will carry out the smashing
and destruction of the adversary's units and the occupation of
its territory. They will be followed by land forces and Russian
Federation Ministry of the Interior units, which should have as
much experience as possible with military operations. They will
assume control of especially important objects and will carry out
a local "cleansing."
Next, getting support from the militia, which will be formed from
representatives of the pro-Russian parts of the local population,
they will consolidate control over the territory, begin
filtration of nationalists and the deportation of some categories
of citizens from different areas. It must be stressed that until
the completion of the special operation, the local authorities
will be needed only to the extent that they are useful in
assisting to establish military control over the territory.
An extremely important role in carrying out the basic
assignments of the armed forces belongs to military intelligence.
The highest priority must be given to the further development and
toincreasing the effectiveness of the GRU.