Deputy Head of the Defence Committee of the State Duma, Alexei Arbatov, agrees with the assessment of the situation of the Armed Force of the RF

provided by the Head of the General Headquarters, army General Anatoli Kvashnin, who filed a report on the condition of the armed forces and strategic plans on army reform at a closed meeting of the State Duma on November 24, 2000.

Arbatov said that in his report Anatoli Kvashnin noted that the armed forces are in a most difficult, “post-critical state”. At the same time Arbatov stressed that “despite the numerous technical details [in the report] it remains unclear how the troubles and faults which are a heavy burden for the armed forces will be overcome”. Here Arbatov referred primarily to the low level of pay of the military, first of all of officers, the “serious problem” with the provision of housing, insufficient military training, “parlous state” of the supply of new weapons for the armed forces , their dislocation and "preparation for conflicts that may occur over the next 5-10 years”.

Arbatov also noted that “it remained unclear as to how far national security and defence of the RF will depend on the nuclear deterrence and how far security will be guaranteed by general defence forces , including those used in local conflicts.”

The Yabloko faction expresses its deep concern over the general situation in the armed forces, as well as the failure of the budget for 2001 to resolve definite urgent issues of army reform, despite considerable additional funding that was allocated, on the initiative of Yabloko, to “National Defence” Arbatov also recollected that the Yabloko faction had uncovered considerable additional funds in the governmental draft budget and proposed ways for their rational expenditure on national security needs and military reform.

“The issue of switching from national conscription to a voluntary contract-based army remains unresolved. No definite measures have been proposed here,” Arbatov told journalists after discussions in the Duma. At the same time he indicated that the funds for the initial stage of the transfer to a contract-based army could be reserved already in the budget for 2001, which would make it possible to take decisive steps forward with military reform.

Arbatov also stressed that the funds for military reform, in particular for the provision of housing for dismissed officers and the granting of severance pay envisaged by law, do not comply with planned reductions.

Arbatov thinks that the distribution of funds to supply army equipment is not well-conceived. He thinks that too scanty funds are allotted to the maintenance of strategic nuclear forces, despite the fact that “ the strategic nuclear forces represent the foundations for deterrence and a guarantee for Russia that any local conflict will not be transformed into a regional and large-scope conflict”. The reduction of the strategic nuclear forces may in Arbatov's opinion “adversely affect the status of Russia in the world and the prospects of negotiations with the USA on reductions of strategic offensive weapons and anti-missile systems.”

According to the Yabloko faction, the strategic nuclear forces, primarily the Strategic Rocket Forces, should be the priority for national defence and national security policies, and “the groupings for local conflicts should not be created and equipped at the cost of reductions in the nuclear strategic forces, rather through other reductions in general-purpose forces remaining since the cold war and traditionally oriented at the West,” thinks Arbatov.

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Alexei Arbatov thinks that an “absolutely abnormal situation” has developed in the leadership of the armed forces