The Devolution of Russian Military Power,

Abstract

In the mid 1980s the Cold War was still cold. The United States and the Soviet Union were increasing their defense spending as they entered a new cycle of rearming. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Warsaw Pact forces faced each other across Central Europe. Today, a mere ten years later, there is no Soviet Union or Warsaw Pact. Former Soviet allies are clamoring to enter NATO and Russia's military is a literally a shadow of its former self. Table 1 summarizes a dramatic evolution in the traditional indicators of Soviet/Russian military power. Standing capabilities such as troops and tanks are less than one-third former levels. Weapons production hovers at 1% of the rates. And most significantly, there are no Russian forces in Eastern Europe.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 1995
Accession Number
ADA305532

Entities

People

  • Stephen M. Meyer

Organizations

  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Defense
  • Arms Control
  • Cis
  • Contracts
  • Defense Industry
  • Department Of Defense
  • Eastern Europe
  • Governments
  • Military Budgets
  • Military Facilities
  • National Security
  • Nato
  • Security
  • Training
  • Treaties
  • United States
  • Ussr

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • East Asian Political and Security Studies within the Soviet Union
  • International Relations and European Studies
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.