Abkhazia Institute for Social and Economic Research

Large numbers of Russian peacekeepers in the Balkans had to be sent back because of their involvement in criminal activities. Discipline problems are important not only because they undercut a high level of combat readiness, but they can also lead to a serious loss of life. I shall cite a few examples: In 1993, several Russian sailors starved to death in the Far East; in 1993, an army ammunition dump blew up in the Far East with the explosive power of a nuclear weapon; in 1997, 50 soldiers were shot by their fellow servicemen, and these were only the ones on guard duty; and in 1998, four soldiers shot and killed their commanding officers. The situation became so serious that Yeltsin had to order an inspection of strategic rocket force facilities because disciplinary infractions among those soldiers were so widespread.
In the year 2000, corruption is as widespread among senior officers as drug trafficking is among soldiers. Finally, the problem of "dedovshchina," senior soldiers harassing junior soldiers, continues unabated.
Training is the second area that I wanted to mention in this category. Training it critical to any military; without it, no army can hope to survive, let alone prevail in the battlefield. Yet, the bottom has fallen out of training in the Russian military because of a lack of funds. I will provide some examples: NATO expects pilots to fly between 150 and 200 hours per year. The Russians are lucky to get 40 to 50. Students graduating from pilot school are being sent to other services because there are no planes for them to fly.