At the height of Soviet military power in 1985-1986, there were 4.9 million servicemen and women in the active duty forces, and about another 1 million belonged to the Warsaw Treaty Organization (a mutual defense alliance including several Eastern European countries). After the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991, severe budgetary problems in Russia—which inherited the bulk of former Soviet military forces—precipitated deep cuts in troop numbers and weapons acquisition. Although Russia's economy improved in the 2000s, permitting higher defense expenditures, the military continued to resist reforms to its mission and organization. Despite the sizeable reduction in the size of the armed forces, the Russian military is still the fifth largest in the world in terms of active personnel—officially 1 million in 2011—exceeded only by militaries in China, India, North Korea, and the United States. Although Russian defense spending also has greatly decreased, it still is among the highest in the world. Because of the lessened capabilities of its conventional forces, Russia has relied on nuclear forces as a deterrent to conventional or nuclear attack and as a means of response to attack. Russia has undertaken several largely piecemeal and halting efforts to revamp the armed forces it inherited from the Soviet Union. In 2007, near the end of then-President Vladimir Putin's second term in office, he appointed Anatoliy Serdyukov—the former head of the Federal Tax Service—as defense minister as part of an effort to combat corruption in the military and carry out reforms. After the August 2008 Russia-Georgia conflict revealed large-scale Russian military operational failures, the leadership became more determined to boost military capabilities, and a new wave of reforms was launched in September-October 2008. According to most observers, the reforms launched by Serdyukov have gone further than previous reforms in altering the force structure and operations of the armed forces inherited from the Soviet Union, although near-term and longer-range effects are subject to debate. This report examines the character and status of these changes and debate, focusing mainly on those reforms that have impacted conventional armed forces capabilities. The report provides basic information about the military's leadership and structure, the arms industry and efforts to modernize weaponry (including through foreign arms technology transfers), power projection efforts, and the military budget. A major question regarding the military reforms launched in 2008 is whether they are intended to recreate or approach the capabilities of a Soviet-era "superpower" armed forces with global reach threatening U.S. interests or to create smaller, professional, armed forces for homeland security and counter-terrorist missions. The intentions of Russia's leaders are contradictory, according to some observers, with some "Cold Warriors" seeking to recreate a military with global reach to fight vast wars while others seek to tailor forces for modern missions. Elements of both goals appear to various degrees in Russia's national security strategy, defense doctrine, and other documents and programs (described directly below). Even in military reform efforts launched in late 2008 these contradictions are apparent, although the main thrust of reforms appears to support modern missions. Perhaps regardless of intentions, there are major economic, technological, demographic, and other impediments both to Russia's ability to recreate "superpower" armed forces ready to carry out strategic land, sea, and air battles in the East and West and to its efforts to create modern armed forces, according to most observers. On May 13, 2009, Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev promulgated a National Security Strategy of Russia through the year 2020, which in principle provides the basis for Russia's military doctrine and foreign policy. The strategy outlines current threats facing Russia and its security priorities. The strategy praises former President Putin (without naming him) for leading Russia out of its "political and socio-economic systemic crisis" of the 1990s. It proclaims the emergence of "multi-vector diplomacy" in the world (implying that U.S. superpower status is eroding) and "Russia's resource potential" as ensuring that Russia will "consolidate its influence in the world arena" as a leading political and economic power. Both the national security strategy and the military doctrine were drawn up by the Russian Security Council, headed by Nikolay Patrushev, the former chief of the Federal Security Service, and deputy head Yuriy Baluyevskiy, the former chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces. Both are considered by many observers to represent those within the leadership who advocate bolstering Russia's international "great power" status. The strategy states that globalization has led to new external and internal threats and challenges ranging from resource wars to rising social inequality and poverty within the country that could contribute to unrest. NATO is criticized as an obsolete regional security organization that should be superseded by a new regional security architecture. Nonetheless, the strategy urges a greater regional security role for the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO, a Russia-led mutual security alliance; other members include Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan), which it appears to view as potentially equivalent to NATO. It states that NATO's enlargement to countries sharing borders with Russia and NATO's adoption of out-of-area missions are "unacceptable," although it also avers that Russia is open to cooperation with NATO. An increasing global competition for resources could lead to military conflict, including near the borders of Russia and its allies, the strategy warns. The United States (though not named) appears to be criticized as threatening Russia's military security by attempting to achieve "overwhelming supremacy in the military sphere." The strategy proclaimed that despite this U.S. effort, Russia would "undertake all necessary efforts at the lowest level of expenditures to maintain parity with the United States in strategic offensive weapons." At the same time, the strategy calls for establishing a "strategic partnership" with the United States that appears to be envisaged as a global diarchy. The strategy proclaims that national defense and internal control are the main national security priorities. To ensure national defense, the strategy calls for preserving strategic nuclear capabilities, reorganizing the conventional armed forces, and revitalizing defense industries. Perhaps reflecting the 2008 Russian-Georgian conflict, the strategy stresses that the military has a responsibility to protect Russian citizens in nearby states. Internal control is assured through enhanced counter-intelligence, counter-terrorism, anti-transnational crime and corruption, and border control efforts. U.S. analyst Stephen Blank suggests that the U.S.-Russia "reset" of relations being undertaken at the time of the release of the strategy led to the removal of explicit references to the United States as a threat. He suggests, however, that the strategy remains a largely conservative document opposed to Serdyukov's military reforms (although Serdyukov endorsed the threat assessment presented by the strategy), which was written by military officers and security officials who retained Soviet-era views of threats. German analyst Henning Schröder appears to take a different view, stating that the strategy seems to be "written by several authors whose threat perceptions diverge radically." He argues that the presentation of possible threats to national security—including the Federal Security Service's fear of spies, the military's fear of NATO, the economists' concern for economic development, and the elite's fear of social unrest—provides "no clues as to which of the competing ... risk perceptions will determine the future course of politics." President Medvedev approved a new military doctrine on February 5, 2010. The doctrine has legal force as state policy and in principle dictates decisions on capabilities. The doctrine qualifies language it repeats from the previous 2000 doctrine—that the threat of large-scale war is reduced—by raising concerns that "dangers" are increasing that could develop into threats. The 2010 doctrine follows the 2009 national security strategy in mentioning NATO as a "danger" because of its enlargement to states bordering Russia and its assumption of out of area missions. Other dangers include the development of strategic missile defenses and conventional precision strike weapons, including cruise missiles. The doctrine calls for Russian troops to be used abroad to protect Russian interests and uphold international security. Legislation in October 2009 had provided for the Federation Council to authorize the use of troops abroad to protect its "peacekeepers" and citizens, and to combat piracy at sea, making it somewhat easier for Medvedev to call for such deployments. The protection of Russian citizens abroad reflects a greater emphasis on forward-basing in former Soviet republics that are regarded as within a privileged sphere of influence, according to some observers. The new doctrine repeats nearly verbatim language—with perhaps one significant change—contained in the 2000 doctrine emphasizing nuclear retaliation in case of nuclear attack. There had been speculation before the release of the doctrine that it might elevate the concept of preemptive nuclear strikes, but these are mentioned only as contingencies in cases where nonnuclear weapons of mass destruction are used against Russia "and/or against its allies, as well as in cases when aggression against the Russian Federation with the use of conventional weapons endangers the very existence of the [Russian] state." The perhaps one significant change may be the language permitting use in cases when the "very existence" of the Russian state is threatened. This language may narrow the circumstances under which such weapons could be used, since the 2000 doctrine permitted their use "in situations critical to the national security" of Russia. In any event, the doctrine continues to authorize the possible first use of nuclear weapons during an ongoing conflict. The national security strategy and its theoretically supporting foreign policy concept (and other foreign policy pronouncements) appear less militaristic than the military doctrine. The national security strategy raises the possibility of improved U.S.-Russian ties, perhaps reflecting the early period of the bilateral "reset," while the latter does not. Because of this, some observers suggest that some elements of the military doctrine were written before the national security concept.