MOSCOW. Oct 2 (Interfax-AVN) - Radical reforms in the Russian armed forces have been completed and they are beginning comprehensive development, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov has said.
"Radical transformation within the framework of military reforms has been completed, and the positive results that have been achieved make it possible to switch from measures to ensure the survival of the armed forces to comprehensive military development," Ivanov said at an expanded session of the Russian military leadership in Moscow on Thursday, which President Vladimir Putin is attending.
Principal reductions in the armed forces have been carried out, Ivanov said. "No more substantial reductions in the armed forces are expected, as their strength has reached the level of defense sufficiency, which is about one million servicemen. Let me remind you that the Russian armed forces numbered 2.75 million servicemen in 1993," he said.
"A system of political control over the activity of the armed forces has been set up, and the foundations of public control have been laid," he said.
Ivanov called for changing the principles used for planning the development of the army and navy. "We should think not about what the armed forces can do using the military potential they inherited from the USSR, but about how to transform and develop the existing capabilities to ensure the defense of the country's interests," he said.
"The geopolitical situation in the world is quite complicated and dynamic, and the military force as a tool of foreign policy remains in high demand," Ivanov said.