Introduction It has almost been 18 years now since both the cold-war and communism came to an end. As a way of recollecting our thoughts on this, perhaps it would be best if we could for a moment try to evaluate the relationship that both the civilians and the military have enjoyed (or failed to enjoy, for that matter) in the years following the collapse of the communist party rule in Russia between 1989 and 1991. To start with, it is important to point out here that Russia, along with the rest of the countries in eastern and central Europe, was faced with an extremely unique point of transition, from one that revolved around military power, to one that is inclined more towards democracy (Huntington 2008). As such, the issue of defense policy, the armed forces and the military-civil relations becomes paramount. The armed forces happened to have been constituents of the communist system of government. This system of government greatly hinged upon matters of state relative to those of the party. In Russia for example, the orientation that the military underwent during the reign of communism was such that they could help escalate the tenets of the civilian-led system of government regarding the cold war, thereby resulting in ideological difference with the West (Nelson et al 1998). Not only were the military large in terms of size, they were also heavily backed in monetary terms by the system. For this reason, their spending budget by far exceeded those of the other government departments. From such a point of view, it is not hard to see why there would result strained relations and a possible resistance on the part of the military, when the post-communist government sought to reorient the mindset of the military so that they could not face the post-cold war policies from a democratic perspective. What this means is that the Russian government sought to replace the system of party-state with a democratic model that boasted of military-civil relations (Tolstoy et al 1998). Some of the challenges that the post-communism system in Russia was faced with include lowering of its military size, as well as a reduction on the defense budget, attempting to alter the mindset of the military personnel from mission of the cold war, to now embrace post-cold war endeavors. Then throw is the challenge of having to establish a new platform that would aid in the promotion of cordial relationships between on the one hand, the military personnel and on the other hand, the members of the society in Russia. Understanding post-communist Russian politics There is a widely held assumption, both within Russia as well as abroad, that the process of democratization that came about due to the crumbling of the communist regime in Russia, may have had an extensive impact on the military (Huntington 2008). So much so that for a long time now, it has even been alleged that the military, on occasion, has come close to executing a coup d’etat. These are rumors that have been circulating ever since the post-communist era started. In august 1991, hard-liners communists tried to institute a coup, an attempt that flopped. Major General Leonid Kozhender, while being interviewed by a leading newspaper in Russia four months after the military take-over bid had been thwarted, opined that “the Army is tired of suffering humiliatio