Russia To Triple Defense Spending In Three Years

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin. © RIA Novosti. Alexei Druzhinin

Russia To Triple State Defense Order By 2015 -- RIA Novosti

MOSCOW, December 27 (RIA Novosti) – Russia will gradually increase the annual amount of the state defense order to 2.8 trillion rubles (about $92 billion) by 2015, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Thursday.

“The state defense order will reach about 1.9 trillion rubles next year, about 2.2 trillion in 2014 and 2.8 trillion in 2015," Rogozin said in an interview with Rossiya 24 television.

Russia allocated about 908 billion rubles (about $30.7 bln) on state defense order spending in 2012.

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Update: Russia to triple military spending -- Examiner

My Comment: When a country is tripling their defense spending .... that's usually a sign that they are preparing to go to war. Fortunately .... Russia is not preparing to go to war .... they are implementing a massive modernization program. But they also see the U.S. as a declining world power that is creating a political/military vacuum in areas where Russian interests coincide. In short .... Russia is positioning itself for the worse. (i.e. Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Central Asia, Chinese border disputes, unrest in Caucasus, etc.) just to name a few.

Russia Will Soon Permit Women To Serve As Conscripts In The Military

At present, the Russian legislation allows women to serve in the military only under contracts. © RIA Novosti. Oleg Zoloto

Russia May Soon Draft New Law On Military Service For Women -- RIA Novosti

MOSCOW, December 26 (RIA Novosti) – A bill on voluntary military conscription for women could be introduced in the lower house of the Russian parliament by February 1, 2013, a Russian lawmaker said.

“We will be surveying the public opinion until January 15 and spend the rest of January discussing our initiative with colleagues,” Tatyana Moskalkova from the Just Russia faction in the State Duma and a co-author of the bill told reporters on Tuesday.

“If everything goes well, we will introduce this bill in the State Duma by February 1,” Moskalkova said.

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Update #1: Russia may soon draft new law on military service for women -- Voice of Russia
Update #2: Duma deputies propose military service for women -- Russia And India Report

My Comment: Here is an interesting article from Pravda on the Russian military .... it is arguing that the reason why many Russian women want to join the military is to find suitable husbands. (LOL). But aside from this "opinion", there is still a lot of good info in this Pravda article on other issues confronting the military.

Avoiding The Military Draft In Russia

Russians Risk Jail To Avoid Military Draft -- Al Jazeera

Thousands of young men are dodging the draft over fears of hazing during military training.

The Russian Defence Ministry's autumn military recruitment drive to reinforce its rank of about a million soldiers is in full swing.

But every year it struggles to find the minimum number of recruits.

Thousands of young men are dodging the draft and many are willing to risk jail to avoid the army all together.

Al Jazeera's Charles Stratford reports from the capital, Moscow.

WNU Editor: Video report from Al Jazeera

Russian Female Paratroopers Take Intensive Training (Photo Gallery)

WNU Editor: Russian winter .... brrrr!!!!! The gallery starts here.

Russian President Putin Fires Top General In Major Military Reshuffle

Russian Military Faces Major Reshuffle -- RIA Novosti

MOSCOW, November 9 (RIA Novosti) – The dismissal of the chief of the Armed Forces General Staff, General of the Army Nikolai Makarov, may pave the way for major changes within the ranks of Russia’s military leadership amid financial scandals and conflicts over defense policy.

Russian President Vladimir Putin sacked Makarov on Friday, replacing him with former Central Military District commander Col. Gen. Valery Gerasimov.

Gerasimov’s promotion follows Monday's appointment of Sergei Shoigu as Defense Minister, replacing Anatoly Serdyukov, who was dismissed amid an investigation into nearly $100 million in fraudulent transactions involving real estate owned by Oboronservis, a ministry-controlled company.

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More News On Major Changes In Russia's Top Military Leadership

Putin Appoints New Chief of General Staff -- RIA Novosti
Russia sacks armed forces chief amid corruption scandal -- BBC
Putin Replaces Russian Army Chief in Military Shake-up -- Defense News/AFP
Russia's Putin fires top general after graft scandal -- Reuters
Putin fires Russian military chief -- Financial Times
Putin Presses Overhaul of Top Military Leaders -- New York Times
Putin Dismisses Military Chief After Defense Minister Ouster -- Bloomberg Businessweek
Putin reshuffles top Russian military officers -- FOX News/AP
Putin Replaces Army Chief of Staff -- Voice of America
Russian President Reshuffles Top Generals Amid Fraud Investigation -- Radio Free Europe
Russia has new military staff chief -- UPI
Profile: Russia's new military chief Valery Gerasimov -- BBC

Cigarettes And Ammo Dumps Do Not Mix

4,000 Tons Of Shells Explode In Central Russia, Leave Mushroom Cloud-Like Plume Of Smoke -- RT

More than 4,000 tons of shells exploded near a military testing ground some 40 kilometers from the city of Orenburg in Central Russia, prompting the mass evacuation of two nearby towns.

Those 4,000 tons included 1,379 tons of 100mm shells, 400 tons of air bombs and 2,300 tons of 280mm reactive shells, the head of the military investigative committee announced.

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More News On 4,000 Tons Of Shells Exploding At A Russian Military Base

So THAT'S why they don't let you smoke around munition dumps! 'Cigarette' sparks blast a quarter of the size of Hiroshima at Russian military testing site -- Daily Mail
Ammunition Explosion Rocks Orenburg Region Army Base -- Moscow Times
4,000 tons of exploding shells rock Russian military test site near Kazakhstan border -- Washington Post/APFire breaks out on Russian ammo train -- UPI
4,000 tonnes of old munitions explode in Russia -- DNA/PTI
Evacuated Residents Return Home after Munitions Blasts in Russia -- RIA Novosti

Russia's Rearmament Program Will Waste Trillions In Rubles

Russian servicemen in historical uniforms take part in a military parade rehearsal in Moscow's Red Square. The parade will take place on November 7 to mark the 70th anniversary of a historical parade in 1941 when Soviet soldiers marched through Red Square, towards the front lines during World War II. (Reuters)

Throwing Trillions Of Rubles Down The Drain -- Alexander Golts, Moscow Times

It should come as no surprise that the Proton rocket launch last week resulted in the loss of two telecommunications satellites. This is the latest of a dozen or so satellites that Russia has lost over the past two years. Once again, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev ordered an investigation into the causes of the failure and punishment for those responsible. A special meeting is supposed to be held on the issue this week.

These failures provide a good indication of what to expect from the ambitious rearmament program, which will cost 23 trillion rubles ($723 billion) over 10 years. The space industry is supposed to be the most advanced in the country's military-industrial complex. At least a quarter of all defense contracts go toward developing the space industry.

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My Comment: Russia's military industrial base and the bureaucracy that overseas it is overly bureaucratic, inefficient and corrupt .... and what aggravates the situation even more so .... Russia does not have the industrial base to produce the high-tech weapons that it wants.

Trillions wasted .... from where I am standing .... it is probably more.