Russian Military Reforms Axe Generals and Colonels

Russian military reforms, launched by the new Minister of Defense Anatoly Serdykov, continue to rock the entrenched Russian military establishment. As a result of recent surprise appraisals conducted in the Armed Forces, 50 generals and colonels will be dismissed form active duty. All together, 249 senior military officers were subjected to such appraisals. According to the decision of the Central Evaluation Commission, only 66 of them will remain at their current posts, with 133 people to be transferred to other posts or to similar positions in other regions. The rest are awaiting their dismissal.

To date, 85% of officers and 79% of warrant officers have undergone similar "unplanned" appraisals, with complete results of the testing to be released later. The current military reforms in the Russian military include a reduction of approximately 250,000 officers from active-duty ranks. Following the reforms, many military positions will be taken up by civilian specialists. The total number of the Russian armed forces will be reduced from 1.2 to 1 million people.