In March 2014 Russian Armed Forces managed to deploy thousands troops on Ukrainian bordere in less than 48hs. This fact was crucial in capturing Crimea. In 2015 Russia showed rapid and surprise deployment of its forces in Syria. Such success was the result of very painful military reform of  former  Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov. As the result of the reform President Putin received in his disposal up to 40 units of permanent readiness. Russia got total military superiority in post-Soviet space. All this puts important questions to answer. What are the results of progressive “sectoral” reform in authoritarian society? Does it weaken the regime or strengthen it? What  are the consequences for European and world security? Can Kremlin preserve the results of the reform in situation of new confrontation with the West?

 

Alexander Golts received his M.A. in Journalism from the Moscow State Lomonosov University in 1978. From 1980 to 1996, he worked with the "Krasnaya zvezda" ("Red star") editorial board, and the  Soviet, then Russian, military daily. From 1996 to 2001, Golts served as military editor of Itogi, a premier Russian news magazine, and from 2001 to 2004 he worked for the magazine "Yezhenedelnyi journal" ("Weekly") as deputy editor-in-chief (Moscow). He spent the 2002/2003 academic year at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) of Stanford as a Visiting Fellow. Today, Golts works as deputy editor for the website EJ.RU. and as military analyst for the New Times magazine in Moscow. He is currently a Visiting Fellow at the Kennan institute. 

 

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