Russia Reduces Strategic Rocket Forces’ Stature

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov appointed a new head of the Strategic Rocket Forces April 27, emphasizing the position’s reduced status in the military command hierarchy.

Ivanov named Colonel General Nikolai Solovtsov to replace Vladimir Yakovlev at the helm of Russia’s land-based strategic nuclear forces. Yakovlev had held the position as commander-in-chief since 1997, but in announcing the new appointment, Ivanov said, “I emphasize that Solovtsov has been appointed commander, not commander-in-chief,” indicating that the rocket forces will likely lose their independent status.

The Strategic Rocket Forces have traditionally operated as a separate branch of the military, much like the army, navy, and air force. They will now likely be subordinated to the air force, although Russian officials have yet to announce that specific change.

Last year, Chief of the General Staff Anatoly Kvashnin and then-Minister of Defense Igor Sergeyev publicly clashed over the future of Russia’s nuclear forces, with Kvashnin arguing that funds should be shifted to meet conventional needs and Sergeyev, Yakovlev’s predecessor at the rocket forces, arguing for the pre-eminence of nuclear weapons in Russian military doctrine. (See ACT, September 2000.) President Vladimir Putin appeared to side with Kvashnin last summer, and Sergeyev was replaced as defense minister in March.

Since assuming his position March 28, Ivanov has argued for a “balanced approach” to military funding, recognizing the importance of nuclear forces but also noting that conventional forces have been “a little neglected,” according to March 31 interview published by Russian news agency Interfax.