Interfaks reports the VDV’s spokesman says Airborne Commander, General-Lieutenant Vladimir Shamanov is doing well enough to receive visitors and work from his hospital bed, though doctors won’t say at this point when he might be discharged.
Tuesday’s Argumenty.ru reported bad news for Shamanov’s staff. A Defense Ministry commission working in the VDV will soon issue its decision on cutting the airborne staff. A military source says it’s only a formality since a decision, not favorable to the VDV, has already been made.
The officer said the commission arrived immediately after Defense Minister Serdyukov’s 30 September dust-up with VDV Colonel Krasov at the Seltsy training center near Ryazan. It had mainly finance and personnel people. Scheduled to work for two weeks, the commission needed more than a month, and didn’t finish until after Shamanov’s car accident on 30 October.
According to Argumenty.ru’s source, the report will consider it expedient to cut the VDV’s Main Staff by two times, transfer its headquarters from Moscow to Ryazan or Tula, and sell its current premises in Sokolniki.
Russian Defense Policy 