MOSCOW. Jan 26 (Interfax-AVN) - Deputy commander of the Land Forces Colonel General Vladimir Bulgakov told Interfax-Military News Agency Monday that administrative functions of various bodies in the army are a hard problem which has to be solved as soon as possible.
"Separation of military leadership functions, including the Defense Ministry and the General Staff, announced by the Russian defense minister at an annual meeting of the Military Sciences Academy on Saturday (January 24 - Interfax-AVN), is a problem that has long been wanting a solution. I think that new approaches to the management of the Armed Forces, and cooperation between various armed authorities should be created after a flexible and contingency-oriented C2 system is built," Bulgakov said.
He clarified that the parties concerned in the problem were not only the Defense Ministry and the General Staff, but also the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Interior Ministry, Emergencies Ministry, and others.
"Each military authority has to be well aware of its responsibilities, and they should not duplicate one another. So far we have a lot of duplicating military authorities," Bulgakov added.
He said it had been a severe problem in the first part of the North Caucasus antiterror operation in 1999-2000.
"During the anti-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus, where I commanded a task force, C2 was not a priority, and we used to lose initiative because of duplicating commands. Unfortunately, such things still exist nowadays, and I frequently see it as the deputy commander of the Land Forces, responsible for anti-terror action," Bulgakov emphasized.