| Министерство обороны Российской Федерации | |
.svg) Ministry emblem | |
 Ministry flag | |
 The building of theNational Defense Management Center onFrunzenskaya Embankment (house No. 22) inMoscow, the ministry headquarters | |
| Agency overview | |
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| Formed | 16 March 1992 (first in 1717 asCollege of War) |
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| Jurisdiction | President of Russia |
| Headquarters | Znamenka 19,Moscow, Russia[1] 55°43′40″N37°35′22″E / 55.72778°N 37.58944°E /55.72778; 37.58944 |
| Annual budget | US$69.3 billion (2014) |
| Minister responsible | |
| Agency executive | |
| Child agency |
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| Website | eng |
TheMinistry of Defence of the Russian Federation (Russian:Министерство обороны Российской Федерации;MOD) is the governing body of theRussian Armed Forces. ThePresident of Russia is theCommander-in-Chief of the forces and directs the activity of the ministry. TheMinister of Defence exercises day-to-day administrative and operational authority over the forces.[2] TheGeneral Staff of the Armed Forces executes the instructions and orders of the president and the defence minister.
The ministry is headquartered in theGeneral Staff building, built-in 1979–1987 on Arbatskaya Square, nearArbat Street in Moscow. Other buildings of the ministry are located throughout Moscow. The supreme body responsible for the ministry's management and supervision of the Armed Forces and the centralization of the Armed Forces' command is theNational Defense Management Center, located in theMain Building of the Ministry of Defense, built in the 1940s onFrunzenskaya Embankment.
The current Minister of Defence isAndrey Belousov (since 14 May 2024).
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The U.S.Library of Congress Country Studies' volume for Russia said in July 1996 that:
[The] structure [...] does not implymilitary subordination to civilian authority in the Western sense [...]. The historical tradition of military command is considerably different in Russia. Thetsars were educated as officers, and they regularly wore military uniforms and carried military ranks.Stalin always wore a military uniform, and he assumed the titlegeneralissimo. Even General SecretaryLeonid I. Brezhnev [...] appointed himself general of the army, and he encouraged portraits of himself in full uniform. By tradition dating back to the tsars, the minister of defence normally is a uniformed officer. TheState Duma also seats a large number ofdeputies who are active-duty military officers—another tradition that began in theRussian imperial era. These combinations of military and civilian authority ensure that military concerns are considered at the highest levels of the Russian government.[3]
On 18 May 1992,President of RussiaBoris Yeltsin appointedGeneral of the ArmyPavel Grachev to the post of Minister of Defence. Despite intense criticism of Grachev's management of theFirst Chechen War and the Russian military establishment in general, Yeltsin retained Grachev till 18 June 1996. The new minister of defence becameGeneral of the ArmyIgor Rodionov, who subsequently was substituted byMarshal of the Russian FederationIgor Sergeyev.
In March 2001,Sergei Ivanov, previously secretary of theSecurity Council of Russia, was appointed defence minister by PresidentVladimir Putin, becoming Russia's first non-uniformed civilian defence minister.[4]Putin called the personnel changes in Russia's security structures coinciding with Ivanov's appointment as defence minister "a step toward demilitarizing public life." Putin also stressed Ivanov's responsibility for overseeing military reform as defence minister. What Putin did not emphasise was Ivanov's long service within theKGB andFSB and his then rank of General-Lieutenant within the FSB. Such military and security agency-associated men are known assiloviki.
As of 2002, there were four livingMarshals of the Soviet Union. Such men are automatically Advisors to the Defence Minister. The Marshals alive at that time wereViktor Kulikov,Vasily Petrov,Sergei Sokolov, a former Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union, andDmitri Yazov. Yazov was listed by the American analysts Scott and Scott in 2002 as a consultant to the (formerly 10th) Directorate for International Military Cooperation.[5]
Perhaps the first 'real' non-uniformed Defence Minister wasAnatoly Serdyukov, appointed in February 2007. Serdyukov was a former Tax Minister with little siloviki or military associations beyond his two years of military service. Serdyukov launched themilitary reform in 2008.
On 19 August 2010, Serdyukov appointedTatyana Shevtsova as his deputy. As of that date, more than 50 women had been appointed by Serdyukov, and mainly in the tax accountant profession.[6]
In 2012, he was substituted byGeneral of the ArmySergey Shoigu, who held at that moment the position of theMinister of Civil Defence, Emergency Situations and Disaster Relief.
In May 2024 simultaneous with theFifth inauguration of Vladimir Putin on the 14th,Sergey Shoigu was released from duty andseveral of his staff were investigated for corruption or other misdeeds: Yuri Vasilievich Kuznetsov,Timur Ivanov,Ruslan Tsalikov,[7] as well asVadim Shamarin,[8]Ivan Ivanovich Popov,[9] Vladimir Verteletsky,[10] andSukhrab Akhmedov.[11]
On 17 June 2024, it was noted that four deputy defence ministers,Nikolay Pankov,Ruslan Tsalikov,Tatiana Shevtsova andPavel Popov, had been sacked fornepotism that had entered the Ministry. Russian energy ministerSergey Tsivilyov's wife,Anna Tsivileva, the daughter of a cousin of the President, was appointed deputy defence minister. Her responsibilities include improving social and housing support for military personnel.Leonid Gornin, previously the first deputy finance minister, was appointed as the first deputy defence minister. Other personnel changes includedOleg Savelyev and the son of former Prime MinisterMikhail Fradkov.Pavel Fradkov would oversee the management of property, land and construction relating to the military.[12][13] Other reports had Tsivileva as Putin's niece.[14]
On 18 July it was revealed that Lt Gen Shamarin had been formally dismissed from his post because he had accepted bribes from a supplier. He had been serving as deputy chief of the army’s general staff overseeing the signals corps and military communications.[15]
On 24 July the Deputy Chief of the Satellite Communications Center for Strategic Nuclear Missile Forces Andrei Torgashev was apparently victimized at his residence by a car bomb.[16]
The Ministry of Defence is managed by a collegium chaired by the Defence Minister and including the deputy Defence Ministers, heads of the Main Defence Ministry and General Staff Directorates, the commanders of the Joint Strategic Commands/Military Districts, the three Services, and three branches, who together form the principal staff and advisory board of the Minister of Defence.
The executive body of the Ministry of Defence is theGeneral Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, which is headed by theChief of the General Staff. U.S. expertWilliam Odom said in 1998 that "the Soviet General Staff without the MoD is conceivable, but the MoD without the General Staff is not."[17] Russian General Staff officers exercise command authority in their own right. In 1996 the General Staff included fifteen main directorates and an undetermined number of operating agencies. The staff is organized by functions, with each directorate and operating agency overseeing a functional area, generally indicated by the organization's title.
Military Thought is the military-theoretical journal of the Ministry of Defence, andKrasnaya Zvezda is its daily newspaper.
Senior staff in 2024 included:[18]
Senior staff in 2021 included:[18]
Entities directly subordinated to the Minister of Defence in August 2012 included:[18]
TheOffice of Inspectors General of the Ministry of Defence was established in 2008, consisting of around thirty retired senior officers. The main task of the office is "to promote the organization of combat and operational training of troops, the construction and further development of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the development of the theory and history of military art, and the education of personnel."[19] It is the successor to theSoviet Armed Forces'sGroup of Inspectors General, which was dissolved in 1992.[19]
An outline structure of the Ministry of Defence includes the groupings below, but this structure was in transition when it was recorded in 2004, with several deputy minister posts being abolished:[20]
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, Deputy Minister of Defence for Financial-Economic Work
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