Publication

This paper is an analysis of how the Russian military has reacted to the end of the Soviet Union and its subsequent loss of privileges and status. The author explains that Russia has made only limited progress toward creating an apolitical military and setting up institutional safeguards to prevent the use of coercive force by political leaders intent on gaining or maintaining power. The paper concludes that the Russian armed forces remain in essence the old Soviet armed forces, an institution traumatized by the breakup of the USSR and coexisting uneasily with the revised political order.