No. 2 to a country whose army can be neutralized by bands of irregulars fighting with little more than the weapons on their backs. Putin promised that if he was elected to the presidency, he would champion the interests of the armed forces and the security services, and those groups overwhelmingly supported his candidacy. The notion that Russia's path will always remain separate from that of the West has survived the Gorbachev and Yeltsin years. Elsewhere on the Web Links to related material on other Web sites.
Soldiers beg, sell equipment to make ends meet.
An online report by David Ruppe. Includes links to Nightline footage. To understand the present condition of the Russian military, and the problems facing the Russian state as a whole, we must examine what lies behind the war in Chechnya. Should the Chechens win independence, they would acquire a segment of the oil pipeline that runs from the Caspian Sea across their territory to Novorossiysk, on the Black Sea. Furthermore, other restive, partly Muslim regions of the federation, from republics in the Caucasus to oil-rich Tatarstan and Bashkortostan, might be tempted to secede.