Russia's navy has been in a free fall, and many stories have come out about rusting ships and poorly fed and paid sailors, but some new information is available that may put this into perspective. In an August press conference, the Navy's Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov, frankly addressed many of the problems with the funding of the fleet. He stated that while the Navy normally receives 23% of the military budget, this was suddenly reduced to 13%, almost half. "This means that in 1998 we will keep the minimum activity." In other words, they'll sail only when they absolutely have to, so the boomers will go out on patrols, and that's about it.

In spite of 85-90% of the Navy's budget being used for "upkeep of the personnel," sailors have not been paid since April or May.

The Navy is trying to take steps to reform. Tens of thousands of personnel are being demobilized (although they will have to wait for their back pay or retirement benefits). The Ministry of Atomic Energy, Minatom, is taking over the upkeep and disposal of the decommissioned nuclear-powered warships, especially the nuclear submarines. This will free up some more funds for the Navy. Hundreds of shore establish-ments have been closed, and as many more have been reduced to caretaker status.

But an enormous amount of maintenance remains to be done. High-tech equipment needs constant care, or an inexpensive repair turns into a costly refit. Poorly trained technicians compound the problem. The shortage of funds is so severe that the Russian have created a new category of readiness, otstoy, for ships with material casualties that the Navy cannot afford to fix.

Where will it end? That's the scariest part. There's no bottom in sight yet. Until the Russian economy stabilizes, all of the militaries will continue in free fall. And Russian sailors have mutinied before.

A Navy in Crisis: Russian Navy News 1998

Russian Submariner Runs Amok
Hard Numbers on Russia's Navy
Russians Abandon Development of SS-NX-28
Cool Russian Submarine Page

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