Reform number 7: Sergei Shoigu again divides the country into new military districts

Minister Sergei Shoigu made several remarkable statements in his speech at the Board of the Russian Ministry of Defense. The main one is that, in all likelihood, in the territorial distribution of troops in Russia will change again. Namely, the military department will consider the creation of the Moscow and Leningrad military districts with the simultaneous strengthening of groups on the western borders of the country. Shoigu argued his decision by saying that «NATO forces and strike weapons are likely to be deployed in Finland, which will be able to hit critically important objects in the north-western regions of Russia to a considerable depth.»

He called the accession of this country to NATO, and in the future also Sweden, a «serious destabilizing factor», since after Helsinki joined the alliance, Russia's land border with the countries of the bloc has almost doubled.

The Minister announced the following figures:

«The total amount of assistance from NATO states, the European Union and their partners to Ukraine has exceeded $160 billion.» At the same time, according to experts, the Russian Federation's expenditures on its military equipment amount to 3-4% of GDP (from $1.7 trillion), or $51-68 billion, however, without taking into account the cost of previously accumulated weapons and military equipment involved in hostilities.

«The readiness of the West to invest in Ukraine a significant part of the available resources to reverse the situation on the battlefield creates serious risks of escalation of the conflict,» Shoigu said. Apparently, these risks prompted the military leadership of the country to redo it again.

It is known that the division of the territory into military districts is designed to ensure that the state prepares its armed forces in case of war in the most convenient way for managing them.

In Russia, this division was first introduced by Peter I, although the districts were then called divisions (from Lat. divide).

During the reign of Emperor Peter III appeared just and The Petersburg and Moscow divisions, and there were five of them in total. By the end of the reign of Catherine II, there were already 12 divisions, including the capital ones. For the first time, military districts were established during the reforms carried out in Minister Dmitry Milyutin of the Russian Empire in 1862-1864. At first there were 15 of them, and then the constant changes in the number began. But both metropolitan districts existed invariably, having survived all the reforms, enlargements and reductions, including the Soviet ones. They disappeared quite unexpectedly in 2010. By that time, their composition was as follows: Moscow, Leningrad, North Caucasus, Volga-Ural, Siberian, Far Eastern, Kaliningrad Special District.

But on September 1, 2010, Putin signed a decree on the creation of Russia has four instead of six military districts and four joint strategic commands (USC), and on the model of our worst enemy in the near future, the United States, in which there are joint commands of the Armed Forces. So on the basis of Moscow and Leningrad was created USC «West». In peacetime, the USC continues to be called military districts.

And since January 1, 2021, a new military-administrative division of the Russian Federation has been established, which is still in force:

Western

South

Central

Eastern

The Northern Fleet.

In total, military districts are shuffled for the seventh time in the history of the new Russia! A unique, purely Russian ability to sustain instability.