Appendix I. Estimated Strength of Russian Ground Troops

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size

Notes

1 A direct comparison of forces has not been included here given the subjective nature of determining which of NATO's members count as Russia's ‘neighbours’ due to the structure of the Alliance and rotational deployments. Furthermore, while paramilitary forces in, for example, France and Italy, as well as Russia, are mostly irrelevant to such a comparison, Russian paramilitary forces in its exclaves would need to be accounted for, rendering any simplistic numerical comparison misleading.

2 TASS, ‘Den’ Sukhoputnykh voysk Rossii. Dosje [Russia's Ground Troops’ Day. Dossier]’, 1 September 2015, <http://tass.ru/info/2303642>, accessed 9 December 2016.

3 In the British Army other ranks (OR) refers to all ranks from private to sergeant, also known as ‘enlisted men’ in the US Army.

4 Russian Ministry of Defence, ‘Intervjyu glavnokomanduyuschego Sukhoputnymi voyskami general-polkovnika Olega Salyukova ko Dnyu Sukhoputnykh voysk [Interview with Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Troops, Colonel General Oleg Salyukov for the Ground Troops’ Day]’, <http://structure.mil.ru/structure/forces/ground/day.htm>, accessed 19 October 2016.

5 President of Russia, ‘Rasshirennoe zasedanie kollegii Ministerstva oborony Rossiyskoy Federatsii [Extended Meeting of the Russian Federation Ministry of Defence's Collegium]’, 22 December 2016.

6 Aleksey Nikolskiy, ‘Rossiyskaya armiya ukomplektovana na rekordnye 92 protsenta [Russian Army Manned at a Record 92 Per Cent]’, Vedomosti [Statements], 15 December 2015, <http://www.vedomosti.ru/politics/articles/2015/12/14/620756-rossiiskaya-armiya-ukomplektovana-rekordnie-92>, accessed 14 October 2016.

7 Viktor Khudoleev, ‘Voyska s velikoy istoriey [Troops with a Great History]’, Krasnaya zvezda [Red Star], 29 September 2015, <http://www.redstar.ru/index.php/component/k2/item/25942-vojska-s-velikoj-istoriej>, accessed 13 October 2016. TASS news agency has added the necessary clarification that the number 183,200 refers to privates and sergeants, not to the full strength of the Ground Troops. TASS, ‘Den’ Sukhoputnykh voysk Rossii. Dosje [Russia's Ground Troops’ Day. Dossier]’.

8 Flot – XXI Vek [Fleet – XXI Century], ‘VS Rossii: v Moskve sostoyalos zasedanie Kollegii Minoborony Rossii [Russian Armed Forces: Collegium of the Russian Ministry of Defence Met in Moscow]’, 17 September 2013, <http://blackseafleet-21.com/news/17-09-2013_vs-rossii-v-moskve-sostojalos-zasedanie-kollegii-minoborony-rossii>, accessed 13 December 2016.

9 TASS, ‘Nachalnik Genshtaba: armiya planiruet pokupat do 100 samoletov i bolee 120 vertoletov v god [Chief of the General Staff: Army Plans to Buy Up to 100 Aircraft and More than 120 Helicopters Per Year]’, 10 December 2014, <http://tass.ru/armiya-i-opk/1637620>, accessed 13 December 2016.

10 Nikolskiy, ‘Rossiyskaya armiya ukomplektovana na rekordnye 92 protsenta [Russian Army Manned at a Record 92 Per Cent]’.

11 The calculations presented in this appendix are based on official Russian statements which round up to the nearest 1,000 since a greater level of accuracy is not practical. Therefore, the authors' estimates and calculations which use these reported figures contain this inherent limitation in terms of potential for precise accuracy.

12 TASS, ‘Den’ Sukhoputnykh voysk Rossii. Dosje [Russia's Ground Troops’ Day. Dossier]’.

13 Russian Ministry of Defence, ‘Intervjyu glavnokomanduyuschego Sukhoputnymi voyskami general-polkovnika Olega Salyukova ko Dnyu Sukhoputnykh voysk [Interview with Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Troops, Colonel General Oleg Salyukov for the Ground Troops’ Day]’.