ABSTRACT
In the turbulent development of regional processes in Russia during the first decade of its post-Soviet existence it was mostly the interplay between political intrigues and economic interests that appeared to be the main driving force. There were, however, other forces at work as well, with significant impacts on the dynamics and directions of these processes; the transformation of military structures in particular deserves attention in this regard. The immediately obvious feature is the opposite direction of the two trajectories: while regionalism, with all its zigzags and interruptions, was generally on the rise, 1 the armed forces went into prolonged decline, which combined ‘natural’ deterioration caused by sustained under-financing and damage inflicted by combat operations, first of all in Chechnya. It appears to be possible to make an analytical connection between these dynamics: rapid dismantling of the Soviet military machine opened the way for the development of regional processes, and the growth of regionalism reduced the share of resources available for the centre and thus caused further shrinking of the military structures. By the end of the 1990s that interplay had reached a level at which the army was no longer able to survive as a centralised institution and had to turn to regional sources of supply and support, so that ‘healthy’ units were found mainly in rich regions. By and large, however, the armed forces were able to preserve their integrity against centrifugal forces; this chapter will examine this resilience, taking a chronological approach to the course of events.
