Dale Herspring, The Kremlin and the High Command. Presidential Impact on the Russian Military from Gorbachev to Putin

In late 2008 Russian civil-military relations underwent a difficult period. Following the war in Georgia, the political leadership initiated new efforts to reform the military. Anatoly Serdiukov, the Russian Defense Minister, was appointed in 2007 by former president Vladimir Putin with a clear mandate to control military spending and eliminate many redundant senior officer posts. Concurrently, the new Russian president, Dmitri Medvedev, has affirmed his predecessor’s position that the condit...