MOSCOW. March 15 (Interfax-AVN) - The defense minister should shoulder the responsibility for coordinating efforts of all uniformed agencies in the interests of national defense, Army General Makhmut Gareyev, President of the Military Science Academy, said on Tuesday.
"Coordination of efforts of all Russian militarized agencies in the interests of the national defense should be vested with the defense minister, who should simultaneously be Deputy Commander-in-Chief both in wartime and in peacetime," Gareev said at a Tuesday military research conference, devoted to the 60th anniversary of the victory in World War II.
According to him, the existing militarized agencies control system does not meet all requirements of the national defense.
"Russia does not even have the minimal means for countering a large-scale conventional aggression," Gareyev said.
According to him, given this fact it is a must to capitalize on political, diplomatic, economic, and information capabilities for ensuring national defense.
Gareyev said that the National Security Council should focus its major efforts on coordinating efforts of various departments, aimed at providing national security by non-military means.