2 July 2003

Discussing armed forces reform in Russia Background NATO-Russia cooperation A conference held in Moscow on 2 July brought together experts from NATO and Russia to discuss the prospects and strategies for reform of the Russian armed forces. The conference examined the challenges for defence sector reform in Russia as compared to the experiences of NATO member countries. Most participants agreed on the need for reform, saying that the current armed forces were neither sustainable, nor capable of meeting today’s security threats. NATO representatives pointed out that the move from mass forces geared towards large-scale land conflicts, towards high-tech, rapidly deployable forces is a challenge also faced by NATO member countries. Defense reform is one of several areas of cooperation between Russian and NATO in the framework of the NATO-Russia Council, launched last year. The event was organized by the ‘European Club’ Inter-fractional Duma Deputy Association, with the support of the NATO Information Office in Moscow.