MINISTER OF DEFENCE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION MADE A SPEECH AT THE MEETING OF THE FEDERAL COUNCIL WITHIN THE SCOPE OF THE "GOVERNMENT HOUR"

Sergei SHOIGU, the Head of the Russian Military Department, the General of the Army, spoke at a meeting of the Federal Council of the Russian Federation within the frameworks of the “government hour”.

The Minister of Defence told the senators about the current state of the Armed Forces and the main directions of their further development.

At the beginning of his speech, Sergei SHOIGU reminded about the state of the Russian Army in 2012.

“The rate of modern weapons and equipment was 16 percent, and the level of serviceability - 47. A drastic reduction in the number of officers led to the existence of 61 thousand managers. We spent 32 billion rubles on them annually. Let me explain that these were the officers who could not be dismissed from service due to the lack of housing. They received financial allowance and all types of support, but did not fulfill their official duties. At the same time, the managers occupied 28 thousand service apartments, and therefore, the same number of active officers rented housing at commercial prices”, noted the Head of the Military Department.

The Minister of Defenсe added that in total 107 thousand people needed housing. In 2012, 124 thousand legal claims on violation of the rights of military personnel were filed for the courts against the Supreme Commander-in-Chief and the Minister of Defence. The number of contracted servicemen did not exceed 186 thousand people.

The result of the race for cost savings was a decrease in the functional effectiveness of the military and pre-higher education systems, the troops deployment conditions and their logistics and technical support.

“Medical and sports companies, repair units of the military branch were removed from the Armed Forces structure, the work of the leading medical centre - the Kirov Military Medical Academy - was paralyzed. The shortage in flight personnel exceeded 2.3 thousand officers”, said Sergei SHOIGU.

In addition, there were 1.3 thousand military camps on the departmental balance sheet intended to be transferred to the ownership of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. About 5 billion rubles were spent annually on their maintenance, and more than 5 thousand servicemen were engaged in their security support instead of combat training.

The Head of the Military Department reminded that the rate of citizens' confidence that the Army was able to protect the country was only 21 percent. The credibility of the military service did not exceed 28 percent. Some dishonest politicians used the problems of the Army to increase their popularity rate.

“To change the situation for the better, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief in his May orders of 2012 set a number of priorities: to increase the share of modern weapons to 70 percent by the end of 2020, to increase the number of contracted servicemen by at least 50 thousand people annually for five years, to raise the level of social protection of military personnel in terms of housing and financial allowances, to organize works on military-Patriotic education of young people, to increase the credibility rate and attractiveness of the military service”, the Defence Minister said.

During his speech to the Federal Council, Sergei SHOIGU spoke about the current state of the Russian Armed Forces.

“The level of availability of the modern weapons and equipment for the troops has been brought to 68.2 percent. By the end of the year, it will reach the target value of 70 percent. At the same time, the rate of modern equipment in the Strategic Nuclear Forces will exceed 87 percent. The serviceability of weapons and equipment in the Armed Forces is maintained at the level of 94 percent”, the Head of the Military Department said.

In addition, the large-scale work on the re-equipment of all missile brigades with the operational-tactical Iskander complex has been completed. Since 2012, the Land Forces have received more than 12 thousand modern weapons and equipment.

The Aerospace Forces and the Navy have received more than 1,400 aircraft and helicopters. The Navy has also received more than 190 ships, boats and support vessels.

As a result, by 2020, as the Defence Minister noted, the combat potential of the Armed Forces has increased more than twice, which allowed us to maintain strategic parity with NATO in the face of growing military threats.

“The military activity level of the North Atlantic Alliance near our borders increases every year. The land and sea formations of the coalition are being enhanced. The number of NATO member countries is increasing. The US global missile defenсe system is being deployed — Sergei SHOIGU said. — In contrast to these and other threats, we are fulfilling the tasks set by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief in his messages to the Federal Assembly. First of all, the deterrence potential is being built up”.

The Head of the Military Department added that high-precision hypersonic aviation missile systems “Kinzhal” are on experimental combat duty now. Flight and design tests of the naval hypersonic missile “Zircon” are being conducted. In December of the previous year, the first Avangard missile regiment and the Peresvet laser units entered their combat duty. The modernization process of industrial serial production of the Sarmat heavy Intercontinental Ballistic Missile has been completed.

“The media space today has become another theater of military actions. Over the past three years, more than 25 thousand high-tech computer attacks were made on the information infrastructure of the Armed Forces from abroad. Moreover, the number of such attacks increases annually by an average of 12 percent. We are ready for this fight”, the Defence Minister said.

Sergei SHOIGU assured that the Russian military Department has developed a reliable system for protecting information resources ensuring high stability of the Armed Forces command system. All attacks are being neutralized.

“We actively take countermeasures against fake news. Western countries regularly accuse Russia of involvement in high-profile incidents such as interference in American elections, various hacker attacks, concealment of combat losses, and so on. In our country, these news are picked up by the Pro-Western opposition, which is regularly trained abroad. Using media laws as a protection, its activists try to get access to military facilities and hunt for relatives and witnesses. They go to hospitals to talk to our wounded personnel, to cemeteries, to memorials. They videotape entrances and exits of our security facilities and load them up on the Internet. You can imagine what legal problems they would be facing in Western countries”, the Head of the Military Department said noting that this area requires further legislative regulation.

Then the Defence Minister told the senators about the results of the activities of the Russian Armed Forces in the Syrian Arab Republic.

“You see the results of our activities every day. The operation in this country has increased Russia's international credibility level and has given a huge qualitative boost in the development of the Armed Forces”, Sergei SHOIGU said.

According to the Head of the Military Department, all commanders of military districts and their staff officers, as well as all commanders of combined arms, Air Forces and Air Defence Armies, commanders of divisions, brigades and regiments, 90% of aircrew, 56% of air defence specialists, 61% of the Navy, 98% of the military police have received combat experience.

“We have got a whole group of highly-skilled pilots with 200 or more combat missions in their experience”, the Defenсe Minister said.

In continuation of his speech on the state of the Armed Forces, Sergei SHOIGU said that the troops are equipped with modern and combat-proven reliable weapons.

“Over the past seven years, the active list of the personnel of the Armed Forces has changed significantly. The number of conscripts decreased to 225 thousand servicemen, and the number of contracted servicemen exceeded 405 thousand, which is more than doubled. The contracted servicemen fully take NCO positions, positions in combat units of Special Forces, marines, battalion tactical groups, as well as positions connected with the operation of complex equipment. Financial incentives for contracted servicemen have been implemented”, the Head of the Military Department said.

Sergei SHOIGU added that quarterly surveys conducted among the military personnel show their high level of moral, political and psychological conditions. The readiness of military personnel to repel external aggression is 93 percent, and 94 percent of the personnel are confident in the successful completion of combat missions.

In addition, according to the Defence Minister, the military education system has been restored. In 2018, the first full-scale graduation of officers from the military high-education institutions took place. A high competition level in educational institutions of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation is maintained. Last year, it reached a value of 18 persons per one place.

In continuation of his speech, the Head of the Military Department touched upon the topic of social protection of military personnel.

“Since 2012, 775 thousand 736 persons have been provided with housing. Among them, 244 thousand 107 have received permanent housing, 226 thousand 712 — service apartments. For 304 thousand 917 servicemen the amount of under-lease compensation allowance has reached a practical market level”, Sergei SHOIGU told the senators.

He also added that since 2014, through the introduction of subsidies, it became possible to choose a place where to buy an apartment or build a house. Today the subsidies were provided to 37 thousand 312 military persons.

“I want to note that this form of providing permanent housing has made it possible to solve the long-standing problem of a large number of managers in the Armed Forces. Today they are not in the Armed Forces”, said the Minister of Defence.

Speaking about financial allowance, the Head of the Military Department said that the Ministry of Defence maintains it at the level of the remuneration rate of the workers of the leading sectors of the economy. Since October 1 of the previous year, the financial allowance has been indexed by 4.3 percent, military pensions have increased by 6.3 percent.

“Due to the remoteness and scattering of the garrisons, the children of military personnel do not always have the opportunity to get a high-quality education. The Ministry of Defence has established a network of Suvorov military schools, cadet corps, presidential cadet schools, the Nakhimov Naval School and its branches. The schools for gifted children have been opened. Today, our pre-higher education institutions provide the highest level of education to 14,345 pupils, — said Sergei SHOIGU — This opportunity is also provided for girls. In Moscow and St. Petersburg, the girls can study in boarding schools, where along with a good education they receive a decent upbringing”.

Turning to the issue on military-patriotic works in the country, the Defence Minister reminded that just recently there were opinions about the degradation of this system.

“Since 2016, we have moved from the state of discussing concepts, approaches and principles to the real actions. The all-Russian military-patriotic movement “Young Army” (Yunarmiya) has been created. Today, there are more than 700 thousand young men and women involved in this movement, which are united by a common idea of patriotism and a desire to serve in the interest of the native country”, the Head of the Military Department said.

Sergei SHOIGU expressed gratitude to the governors who are actively involved in the development of the Young Army movement - these are 73 regions, and he especially noted the Moscow, Kaluga and Arkhangelsk Regions, as well as the Komi Republic.

“It’s difficult for us to explain why in 12 regions of our country the members of the Young Army do not feel the support from local authorities, — the Minister of Defence added. — There are also senators who do not have their own supported Young Army group yet”.

The Young Army centres are being established in the regions, and these centres are not only the successors of the pioneer houses, but also organizations that can significantly expand their functions.

“For about 30 years, at various sites, from various stands, there has been a discussion on whether we need initial military training or not. We have moved away from these disputes and have begun to act”, said the Head of the Military Department.

In all regions of the country, the year-round educational and methodological centres of military-patriotic education “Avangard” are being established. In these centres, within a week period, boys and girls in the form of a fun and popular games can get sufficient initial military training skills. This will be the first military training camp in their life.

Nowadays, the Avangard centres are being established in 81 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. In the Nizhny Novgorod Region, it has been already opened. There are active construction works on the construction of a such centre in the Moscow Region.

By the end of this year, it is planned to open such centres in 18 regions of the country, in other regions — during 2021. All centres are located at military training grounds.

So far, no final decision has been made on the establishment of such centres by the leaders of the Chechen Republic, Murmansk and Tver Regions.

“In the course of preparations for the 75th Anniversary of the Great Victory, we are implementing a number of projects”, Sergei SHOIGU continued.

In commemoration of this event, the Main Cathedral of the Russian Armed Forces will be consecrated and opened. The project has become really popular. The citizens were united by the idea of preserving the spiritual memory of the Great Victory.

“I would like to thank 91 thousand benefactors across the country for their personal contributions to the construction of the Cathedral, including many senators, and you, Valentina Ivanovna”, the Minister of Defence addressed the Chairwoman of the Federal Council.

In addition, the “Memory Road” museum complex on the Cathedral grounds immortalizes the memory to all participants of the war for the first time in the world history. Up to date, more than 27 million photos and records have already been processed, and 11.5 thousand front-line letters have been exhibited.

Along the perimeter of the “Memory Road”, the brass cartridge cases with the soil from all burial places of the Red Army soldiers collected as part of the “Handful of Memory” campaign will be placed in memorial plates.

The “Victory Echelons” agitation-and-propaganda campaign is being held across the country. In 84 cities of the Russian Federation, different rallies, meetings with veterans and festive concerts will be held. Five propaganda trains have been formed for this purpose.

The Head of the Military Department expressed the hope that the governors would provide support for these events.

“We also expect active participation of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in conducting 11 search expeditions of the Ministry of Defence. During these expeditions, it is planned to repair and furnish 2,144 military burial sites”, said Sergei SHOIGU.

Turning to the issue on cooperation with the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, the Minister of Defence noted that 1,800 military camps not used by the Armed Forces were transferred to the ownership of the constituent entities. This is about 84 thousand objects of real estate, including 53 thousand buildings of the housing stock, 525 boiler houses, 467 kindergartens and 54 schools.

“All requests on transferring residential buildings and officers' homes begin with the words “this will improve the lives of citizens, provide the possibilities for their leisure time and so on”, and the letters about the gratuitous transfer of land sites — “this will reduce the cost of a square meter, will allow relocation from dilapidated housing”. It would be useful to analyze the conditions of 3,956 land sites transferred in the period of six years with a total area of 154,318 hectares, 285 medical facilities, 312 officers' houses, which were characterized by active life before their transfer, — the Head of the Military Department said. — The information provided by the media indicates their extremely poor state”.

So, in 2018, in the city of Engels, the Ministry of Defence transferred to the municipal authorities the historic building of the House of Officers. Its walls still remember the times of formation of women's air regiments under the leadership of Marina RASKOVA, the preparation for the flights of Yuri GAGARIN and German TITOV.

According to the Minister of Defence, the local authorities were supposed to conduct reconstruction works for this building. But nothing has been done over the past two years. Now the measures are being taken, including the participation of the State Duma Chairman, to preserve the historical heritage.

“I want to remind that the Army always provides support in mitigating the consequences of natural disasters, fighting fires, as well as provides humanitarian assistance to the population, without any financial charges. We will continue to do this”, said Sergei SHOIGU.

“Over the years, we have been constantly tricked by getting extremely high bills for municipal services. We have solved this issue, —said the Head of the Military Department. — We have installed more than 113 thousand units metering fuel and energy resources. The results were not long in coming. Today we know how much warm water and resources the Armed Forces spend daily. The cost benefit amounted to 3 billion rubles”.

“Many of you can remember bathing days in the Army, seven-days periods for changing clothes, washing of foot cloths, inside collars. Currently, all places of residence for servicemen are equipped with 35 thousand showers, where you can wash at any time, and not only once a week”, the Minister of Defence stated.

In addition, 17 thousand washing machines have been installed, which made it possible to stop using municipal infrastructure for bathing and laundry purposes.

“We have repeatedly suggested the regions to take the rejected equipment that they could use for municipal needs, to extinguish fires, and to eliminate the consequences of natural disasters. We have got only few responses. Today we have the opportunity to transfer 8 thousand units of dual-purpose military equipment”, said Sergei SHOIGU.

In conclusion, the Head of the Military Department noted that the credibility rate and attractiveness of the military service has significantly increased.

“Since 2012, the Russian society has seen a steady increase in the approval level for the activities of the Armed Forces. The Russian Army is trusted by about 90% of the country's population, negative ratings have decreased by 4.5 times”, the Defence Minister said.