Tomorrow’s Nezavisimaya gazeta reports Defense Ministry sources claim several young, promising generals have tendered their resignations because of problems with General Staff Chief, Army General Nikolay Makarov. NG says they include Deputy General Staff Chief and Main Operations Directorate Chief, General-Lieutenant Andrey Tretyak, First Deputy Ground Troops CINC and Main Staff Chief, General-Lieutenant Sergey Skokov, and Genshtab Electronic Warfare Directorate Chief, General-Major Oleg Ivanov, and others.
The paper describes these guys as the Russian Army’s future leaders. So why do they want to quit? The reasons, unfortunately, haven’t been advertised (yet).
NG points out that, if Tretyak leaves, the GOU (the cerebral cortex of the “brain of the army”) will have its third chief in four years. Skokov has been a key man working on automated C2 (YeSU TZ or ЕСУ ТЗ). A “highly-placed” anonymous officer says it’s because of their disagreement with army reform steps taken by Makarov. And explicitly not because of any problem with Defense Minister Serdyukov, whom they regard as an effective manager.
They feel the Armed Forces, during Makarov’s tenure, have been in a provisional, experimental state, living on projects and according to unconfirmed directives (basic instructions and combat regs). And after three years of “development,” the Genshtab Chief still can’t determine their final shape. There are no confirmed decisions on service or branch TO&E structures, or their basing areas. NG’s anonymous contact says the condition of the troops, and their “fantastic” combat training about which Makarov likes to talk, is “a fiction, which could be the topic of a separate conversation.”
The source implies time, money, and other resources have been wasted trying to develop automated C2 for old-fashioned, World War II-type operations. And this is why Skokov requested his discharge.
NG’s sources believe this “scandal” will have political consequences. The paper wonders whether President Medvedev will choose to get involved. A source claims Deputy Defense Minister Nikolay Pankov is supposed to meet with the generals who want to quit, and discuss their problems with Makarov “from the point of view of the state’s interests.”
Russian Defense Policy 