Military history of the Russian Federation

• 1. Post-Soviet Origins And Dissolution

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  The Soviet Union officially dissolved on the 25th of December 1991. For the next year various attempts to keep its unity and to transform it into the United Armed Forces of the Commonwealth of Independent States failed. Over time, some units stationed in the newly independent republics swore loyalty to their new national governments. A series of treaties between the newly independent states divided up the military's assets. After signing the Belavezha Accords, at a later summit in Kazakhstan on the 21st of December 1991, the countries of the newly formed CIS signed a protocol on the temporary appointment of Marshal of Aviation Yevgeny Shaposhnikov as Minister of Defence. On the 14th of February 1992 Shaposhnikov formally became Supreme Commander of the CIS Armed Forces. On the 16th of March 1992 a decree by Boris Yeltsin created the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The operational control of Allied High Command went to the Ministry of Defence, which was headed by the president. Finally, on the 7th of May 1992, Yeltsin signed a decree establishing the armed forces and assumed the duties of the Supreme Commander. In May 1992, General Colonel Pavel Grachev became the minister of defence. He was made Russia's first Army General on assuming the post. At about this time Shaposhnikov and a skeletal staff were evicted from the MoD and General Staff buildings. They were given offices in the former Warsaw Pact headquarters on the northern outskirts of Moscow. Shaposhnikov's staff quickly became a very weak body as the new states' authorities asserted their control over their own armed forces. On the 15th of June 1993 Shaposhnikov's staff was abolished and replaced with a scaled down Joint Staff for Coordinating Military Cooperation. Shaposhnikov resigned, to be replaced by Colonel General Viktor Samsonov until October 1996.

• 2. Southern Wars And Internal Conflicts

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  The Transnistria War broke out on the 2nd of November 1990 in Dubăsari between pro-Transnistria forces and pro-Moldovan forces. The conflict included armed conflicts in South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Tajikistan, and Dagestan. The ROG Parcani sapper battalion went over to the Transnistrian side under orders of General Butkevich. This battalion later destroyed the bridges at Dubăsari, Gura Bâcului-Bâcioc and Coșnița. Moldovan forces used aircraft in the village of Parcani and shelled the ROG station there. The South Ossetia War was fought between Georgian government forces and ethnic Georgian militias on one side and the forces of South Ossetian separatists and Russia on the other. The First Chechen War was a rebellion by the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria against the Russian Federation, fought from December 1994 to August 1996. After the initial campaign culminating in the devastating Battle of Grozny, Russian federal forces attempted to seize control of the mountainous area of Chechnya but were set back by Chechen guerrilla warfare. The resulting widespread demoralization of federal forces led Boris Yeltsin's government to declare a ceasefire with the Chechens in 1996. The Second Chechen War was an armed conflict in Chechnya and the border regions of the North Caucasus, fought from August 1999 to April 2000. In August 1999, Islamist fighters from Chechnya infiltrated Russia's Dagestan region. During the initial campaign, Russian military and pro-Russian Chechen paramilitary forces seized the Chechen capital Grozny after a winter siege that lasted from December 1999 until February 2000. Russia established direct rule over Chechnya in May 2000 although Chechen militant resistance continued to inflict heavy Russian casualties.

• 3. Constitutional Crisis And Civil War

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  The 1993 Russian constitutional crisis was a political stand-off between President Boris Yeltsin and the Supreme Soviet of Russia resolved by military force. The power struggle reached its crisis on the 21st of September 1993 when President Yeltsin intended to dissolve the country's highest body. On the 3rd of October, demonstrators removed militia cordons around the parliament and took over the mayor's offices. They tried to storm the Ostankino television centre. The army stormed the Supreme Soviet building in the early morning hours of the 4th of October by Yeltsin's order. It arrested the leaders of the resistance. At the climax of the crisis, Russia was thought by some to be on the brink of civil war. The ten-day conflict became the deadliest single event of street fighting in Moscow's history since the Russian Revolution. In response, the parliament declared the president's decision null and void and impeached Yeltsin. Vice president Aleksandr Rutskoy was proclaimed acting president of Russia. The relations between the president and the parliament had been deteriorating for some time before this confrontation erupted into open violence.

• 4. Structural Reforms And Modernization

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  In 1997, 1999 military reform established two categories of military units: constant combat readiness units manned to wartime standards and short staffed units manned to peacetime standards. By 2003 even constant combat readiness units needed additional resources to perform their missions properly. The total number of military personnel was reduced to 1.2 million troops. In 2001 Sergei Ivanov was appointed minister of defence by Vladimir Putin. He pushed to initiate reforms which were completed in 2004. After a period of attempting to work with the West on security issues, by 2003 the Russian Defence Ministry increased the military budget fourfold. It issued a white paper establishing that the United States was the country's main security threat. As of 2008 there were 20% constant combat readiness military units and 80% cadre military units in Russian Armed Forces. After the Russo-Georgian War in August 2008 significant reforms called New Look were announced on the 14th of October 2008 by minister of defence Anatoliy Serdyukov. Major structural reorganisation began in 2009. Key elements included reducing the armed forces to a strength of one million by 2012. The transition from a 4-level operational chain of command to a 3-level one occurred during this period. On the 31st of October 2010 Anatoly Serdyukov stated that changes in organizational-regular structure was completed.

• 5. Russo-Georgian War Of 2008

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  The Russo-Georgian War took place in August 2008 following a period of worsening relations between Russia and Georgia. The fighting took place in the strategically important Transcaucasia region. It is regarded as the first European war of the 21st century. Russian forces temporarily occupied the Georgian cities of Zugdidi, Senaki, Poti and Gori. They held on to these areas beyond the ceasefire. The South Ossetians destroyed most ethnic Georgian villages in South Ossetia and were responsible for an ethnic cleansing of Georgians. Russia recognised the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia on the 26th of August. The Georgian government severed diplomatic relations with Russia. Russia mostly completed its withdrawal of troops from undisputed parts of Georgia on the 8th of October. Overall performance of Russian forces in the Russo-Georgian War was poor and unsatisfactory. Russian forces suffered from bad coordination, malfunctioning equipment, and friendly fire. In response significant reforms called New Look were announced on the 14th of October 2008 by minister of defence Anatoliy Serdyukov. Major structural reorganisation began in 2009.

• 6. Ukrainian Conflict And Mobilization

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  The Russo-Ukrainian War started in February 2014 primarily involving Russia and pro-Russian forces on one hand and Ukraine on the other. Following the Euromaidan protests and the subsequent removal of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych on the 22nd of February 2014, Russian soldiers without insignias took control of strategic positions within the Ukrainian territory of Crimea. On the 1st of March 2014 the Federation Council of the Russian Federation unanimously adopted a resolution to petition President Vladimir Putin to use military force in Ukraine. Russia then annexed Crimea after a widely criticised local referendum which was organised by Russia after capturing the Crimean Parliament. In April demonstrations by pro-Russian groups in the Donbas area escalated into war between the Ukrainian government and Russian-backed separatist forces. In August Russian military vehicles crossed the Russia, Ukraine border in several locations of Donetsk Oblast. On the 24th of February 2022 Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. At about 06:00 Moscow time Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in eastern Ukraine. Minutes later missile strikes began at locations across the country including in the capital Kyiv. Nearly all of the 190,000 troops built up on Ukraine's borders were quickly moved into Ukraine. After making some initial territorial gains the Russian invasion was quickly ground to a halt due to strong Ukrainian Armed Forces resistance. On the 21st of September 2022 during the ongoing invasion of Ukraine Vladimir Putin announced the first mobilization of citizens being in mobilization human resource conducted on a compulsory basis.

• 7. Syrian Intervention And Global Reach

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  The Russian military intervention in the Syrian civil war began in September 2015 after an official request by the Syrian government for military aid against rebel groups. The intervention initially involved air strikes by Russian aircraft deployed to the Khmeimim base against targets primarily in north-western Syria. It targeted Syrian opposition militant groups opposed to the Syrian government including the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and al-Nusra Front. In addition Russian special operations forces and military advisors are deployed to Syria. Prior to the intervention Russian involvement had mainly consisted of supplying the Syrian Army with arms and equipment. At the end of December 2017 the Russian government announced its troops would be deployed to Syria permanently. In December 2024 the Russian-backed Assad government fell and Bashar al-Assad was given refuge in Moscow.