The Soviet Military Leadership and the Question of Soviet Deployment Retreats
Abstract
One of the many questions that have come to disturb the Soviet civil- military relationship in the Gorbachev era is the question of deployment retreat. This is the issue of whether and how far the Soviet Union should reduce its existing conventional force deployments in various regions around the Soviet periphery for the sake of compensating foreign political or domestic economic advantages. It seems clear that there is in fact now considerable contention within the Soviet elite over the linked issues of deployment retreat and unilateral or asymmetrical force reduction. In particular, there is evidence suggesting that within the last year the question of a Soviet troop cut has become a real political issue. One Soviet military leader-Deputy Defense Minister Tretyak-has openly displayed alarm at the possibility of a unilateral force reduction on the model of the large Khrushchev-era cut of the late 1950s.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 1988
- Accession Number
- ADA204324
Entities
People
- Harry Gelman
Organizations
- RAND Corporation