Akademik

   The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (vooruzhenniie sily Rossiiskoi federatsii) is the collective name for the Russian military. On 7 May 1992, Boris Yeltsin established the Russian Ministry of Defense, and placed all Soviet Armed Forces in the territory of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic under the control of the Russian Federation. The president of the Russian Federation, currently Dmitry Medvyedev, holds the title of Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.

   The Armed Forces are divided between the three branches: Ground Forces (or army), navy, and air force. Additionally, there are three independent arms of the service: Strategic Rocket Forces, which manage Russia’s nuclear weapons; Space Forces, which participate in the country’s space program; and the Airborne Troops, an elite force for rapid response to national emergencies. In terms of active troops, the Russian Federation ranks second in the world with more than 1.5 million soldiers, sailors, and aviators. Military expenditures in 2009 were just under $50 billion, a figure that has risen dramatically since the ruble crisis of 1998, when spending fell to its nadir. Russia trails both the United States and China in military spending. Nearly three-quarters of military procurements come from Russia’s domestic defense industry.

   The military is currently in the midst of a massive upgrade, funded, in part, by Russia’s booming economy prior to the 2008–2009 global economic crisis. The Russian military has been deployed in a number of peacekeeping operations since its creation, and engaged in its first interstate conflict in 2008 during the South Ossetian War with Georgia.