The politics behind Russia's military purge
Anatoly Serdyukov (left) with Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin at a military parade (photo: dpa)
Alexey Kudrin Anatoly Serdyukov Dmitry Medvedev Nikolai Makarov Vladimir Putin
STEFAN Hedlund is Professor and Research Director at the Centre for Russian and Eurasian Studies, at Uppsala University, Sweden. He trained as an economist and has specialised in Russian affairs since the final days of Leonid Brezhnev in the early ...
The replacement of Russia's defence minister and its top general within days of each other was surrounded by allegations of corruption and a sex scandal. But the real reason for the ousting relates to the games of power behind the scenes; the military leaders attempting to reform the outdated defence forces appear to have been defeated by the supporters of the traditional state-owned weapons manufacturers.
UNTIL recently, Russia's rebuilding of its tattered military machine appeared to be in full swing.
The ousting, on November 6, 2012, of Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov casts serious doubt on the future of such ambitions and suggests that a recon...
Arms programme
Black scenario
Apartment raid
Insulting language
Advanced weapons
Byzantine politics
The new minister was bent on confrontation. He used insulting language, allegedly referring to the top military brass as 'little green men' and brought in female colleagues from the Federal Tax Service in positions normally reserved for three-star generals