The military history of the Russian Federation began with the establishment of the Russian Armed Forces following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. This was followed by its engagements in post-Soviet conflicts, from the war in Transnistria that started in 1990, after which many reforms were put in place during the late 1990s and the 2000s. Recently, the Russian military invaded Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014 and 2022, and intervened in the Syrian Civil War in 2015.
Origins of the Russian Armed Forces
The Soviet Union officially dissolved on 25 December 1991. For the next year various attempts to keep its unity and to transform it into the United Armed Forces of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) failed. Over time, some units stationed in the newly independent republics swore loyalty to their new national governments, while a series of treaties between the newly independent states divided up the military's assets.
After signing the Belavezha Accords, at a later summit in Kazakhstan on 21 December 1991, the countries of the newly formed CIS signed a protocol on the temporary appointment of Marshal of Aviation Yevgeny Shaposhnikov as Minister of Defence and commander-in-chief of the armed forces in their territory, including strategic nuclear forces. On 14 February 1992 Shaposhnikov formally became Supreme Commander (or Commander-in-Chief) of the CIS Armed Forces. On 16 March 1992 a decree by Boris Yeltsin created the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation; the operational control of Allied High Command; and the Ministry of Defence, which was headed by the president. Finally, on 7 May 1992, Yeltsin signed a decree establishing the armed forces and Yeltsin assumed the duties of the Supreme Commander. In May 1992, General Colonel Pavel Grachev became the minister of defence, and was made Russia's first Army General on assuming the post. At about this time Shaposhnikov "and a skeletal staff to support his role as commander of the CIS Armed Forces were evicted from the MoD and General Staff buildings and given offices in the former.. Warsaw Pact headquarters on the northern outskirts of Moscow" (on Prospekt Mira). Shaposhnikov's staff quickly became a very weak body as the new states' authorities asserted their control over their own armed forces. On 15 June 1993 Shaposhnikov's staff was abolished and replace with a scaled down Joint Staff for Coordinating Military Cooperation. Shaposhnikov resigned, to be replaced by Colonel General Viktor Samsonov, until October 1996. Army General Vladimir Yakovlev (general) appears to have become Chief of the Staff in June 2001.DS2002-0819). See also :ru:Объединённые Вооружённые силы Содружества Независимых Государств.
In the next few years, Russian forces withdrew from central and eastern Europe, as well as from some newly independent post-Soviet republics. While in most places the withdrawal took place without any problems, the Russian Armed Forces remained in some disputed areas such as the Sevastopol naval base in the Crimea as well as in Abkhazia, South Ossetia and in Transnistria. The Armed Forces have several bases in foreign countries, especially on territory of the former Soviet Republics.
A new military doctrine, promulgated in November 1993, implicitly acknowledged the contraction of the old Soviet Armed Forces into a regional military power. Among the most disturbing features of the new military doctrine were “a growing insistence on the right to ignore the sovereignty of now independent former Soviet republics and to intervene in the FSU where and when it suits. The Army, and perhaps the government and people of Russia, simply do not accept that such states are fully independent..” There was an assumption, implicit in many elements of the new doctrine, that "the Armed Forces [could] continue to spend according to their perception of need rather than what the economy can afford.”Charles J. Dick, “The Military Doctrine of the Russian Federation,” The Journal of Slavic Military Studies, September 1, 1994, https://doi.org/10.1080/13518049408430155. In keeping with its emphasis on the threat of regional conflicts, the doctrine called for a smaller, lighter, and more mobile Russian military, with a higher degree of professionalism and with greater rapid-deployment capability. Such change proved extremely difficult to achieve.
Post-Soviet conflicts, 1990-2000
Early post-Soviet conflicts, 1990–1992
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Boris Yeltsin pursued partnership with the West. The new military doctrine was to establish itself as a regional force instead of focusing on global domination. During those years Russian troops fought in a series of conflicts called the southern wars. These included armed conflicts in Transnistria, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Tajikistan, and Dagestan.
The Transnistria War was an armed conflict that broke out on 2 November 1990 in Dubăsari between pro-Transnistria (PMR) forces, including the Transnistrian Republican Guard, militia and neo-Cossack units (which were supported by elements of the Russian 14th Army); and pro-Moldovan forces, including Moldovan troops and police. Although the Russian Army officially took the position of neutrality and non-involvement, many of its officers were sympathetic towards the fledgling Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR) and some even defected in order to help the Transnistrian side openly. ROG Parcani sapper battalion, under the orders of General Butkevich, went over to the Transnistrian side. This battalion later destroyed the bridges at Dubăsari, Gura Bâcului-Bâcioc and Coșnița. Moldovan forces used aircraft in the village of Parcani and shelled the ROG station there which meant engaging not just Transnistrian but also Russian forces.
The South Ossetia War was fought between Georgian government forces and ethnic Georgian militias on one side and the forces of South Ossetian separatists and Russia on the other.
Russian constitutional crisis, 1993
The 1993 Russian constitutional crisis was a political stand-off between the Russian president Boris Yeltsin and the Supreme Soviet of Russia that was resolved by military force. The relations between the president and the parliament had been deteriorating for some time. The power struggle reached its crisis on 21 September 1993, when President Yeltsin intended to dissolve the country's highest body (Congress of People's Deputies) and parliament (Supreme Soviet), although the constitution did not give the president the power to do so. Yeltsin justified his orders by the results of the referendum of April 1993.
In response, the parliament declared the president's decision null and void, impeached Yeltsin and proclaimed vice president Aleksandr Rutskoy to be acting president of Russia. On 3 October, demonstrators removed militia cordons around the parliament and, urged by their leaders, took over the mayor's offices and tried to storm the Ostankino television centre. The army, which had initially declared its neutrality, stormed the Supreme Soviet building in the early morning hours of 4 October by Yeltsin's order, and arrested the leaders of the resistance. At the climax of the crisis, Russia was thought by some to be "on the brink" of civil war. The ten-day conflict became the deadliest single event of street fighting in Moscow's history since the Russian Revolution.
First Chechen War, 1994–1996
The First Chechen War was a rebellion by the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria against the Russian Federation, fought from December 1994 to August 1996. The first war was preceded by the Russian Intervention in Ichkeria, in which Russia tried to covertly overthrow the Ichkerian government. After the initial campaign of 1994–1995, culminating in the devastating Battle of Grozny, Russian federal forces attempted to seize control of the mountainous area of Chechnya but were set back by Chechen guerrilla warfare and raids on the flatlands despite Russia's overwhelming advantages in firepower, manpower, weaponry, artillery, combat vehicles, airstrikes and air support. The resulting widespread demoralization of federal forces and the almost universal opposition of the Russian public to the conflict led Boris Yeltsin's government to declare a ceasefire with the Chechens in 1996 and sign a peace treaty a year later.
The official figure for Russian military deaths is 5,732, while most estimates put the number between 3,500 and 7,500, or even as high as 14,000.Casualty Figures Jamestown Foundation Although there are no accurate figures for the number of Chechen forces killed, various estimates put the number at about 3,000 to 17,391 dead or missing. Various figures estimate the number of civilian deaths at between 30,000 and 100,000 killed and possibly over 200,000 injured, while more than 500,000 people were displaced by the conflict, which left cities and villages across the republic in ruins. The conflict led to a significant decrease of non-Chechen population due to violence and discrimination.Unity Or Separation: Center-periphery Relations in the Former Soviet Union By Daniel R. Kempton, Terry D. Clark p. 122Allah's Mountains: Politics and War in the Russian Caucasus By Sebastian Smith p. 134
Second Chechen War, 1999–2000
The Second Chechen War was an armed conflict in Chechnya and the border regions of the North Caucasus between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, fought from August 1999 to April 2000. In August 1999, Islamist fighters from Chechnya infiltrated Russia's Dagestan region, declaring it an independent state and calling for holy war. During the initial campaign, Russian military and pro-Russian Chechen paramilitary forces faced Chechen separatists in open combat and seized the Chechen capital Grozny after a winter siege that lasted from December 1999 until February 2000.
Russia established direct rule over Chechnya in May 2000 although Chechen militant resistance throughout the North Caucasus region continued to inflict heavy Russian casualties and challenge Russian political control over Chechnya for several years. Both sides carried out attacks against civilians. These attacks drew international condemnation. In mid-2000, the Russian government transferred certain military responsibilities to pro-Russian Chechen forces. The military phase of operations was terminated in April 2002, and the coordination of the field operations were given first to the Federal Security Service and then to the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the summer of 2003. On 16 April 2009, the counter-terrorism operation in Chechnya was officially ended.
The exact death toll of the conflict is unknown. Russian casualties are around 7,500 (official Russian casualty figures) 4,572 servicemen of all security agencies killed by December 2002, 680 Russian Armed Forces soldiers killed in 2003–2007 or about 14,000 according to the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers. Unofficial sources estimate a range of 25,000 to 50,000 dead or missing, mostly Chechen civilians.Chechnya War , Reuters, 11 April 2007
Reforms In "..1991 Russia inherited a military manning system that predated the Soviet era, based on conscription and mass mobilization. Key characteristics of this system included a large standing army, no professional enlisted cadre beyond warrant officers, entrenched organizational corruption, vicious and ritualized hazing (dedovshschina), a relationship between officers and conscripts resembling that of master and serf, and a rigid, highly centralized planning and command philosophy."Dara Massicot, "Annex D: Military Personnel Policy," in "The Future of the Russian Military: Russia’s Ground Combat Capabilities and Implications for U.S.-Russia Competition: Appendixes, RAND Arrayo Center, www.rand.org/t/RR3099, 2019, p.59.