ABSTRACT
A plan for unified Commonwealth armed forces, drafted by Shaposhnikov and the former Ministry of Defense, was discussed at the first summit of Commonwealth of Independent States Heads of State. This plan was debated at the summit alongside an alternative submitted by the former Soviet chairman of the Committee for Military Reform, General of the Army Konstantin Kobets. Significantly, Yeltsin chose to build his defense structure on the foundations of the former Soviet military-industrial complex, rather than create a whole new system, and he put a military officer, rather than a civilian, in charge. Leaders of the Soviet successor states are well aware that military reforms planned during the Gorbachev era had never been implemented. Although Russian military spending has been reduced from Soviet days, it is still an unknown quantity, and the military is agitating for far bigger budgets.
