Can the Russian General Staff—the 'Brain' of the Russian Military—Enact Meaningful Reform?

Program

For nearly two decades after the Cold War, the Russian military resisted change. Legacy ideas, vested bureaucratic interests, the centuries-long militarization of Russian political and social structures, and the high degree of autonomy granted to the Russian General Staff—the 'brain' of Russia's military—held peacetime military reform efforts hostage. Finally in 2008, in the wake of a lackluster performance in Georgia, the Russian military embarked on a series of swift and expansive defense reforms. While these efforts ostensibly allowed Russia's Armed Forces to become relatively more effective in limited operations in Ukraine in 2014 and Syria in 2015, they seem ineffectual in the context of the current war in Ukraine.

Please join RAND's International Security and Defense Policy Program on Tuesday, June 20, 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. EST for a moderated discussion about what this fraught path to modernization can tell us, as we collectively consider the future of Russian military power. Alexis Blanc and Alyssa Demus, authors of The Russian General Staff: Understanding the Military's Decisionmaking Role in a "Besieged Fortress," will join Dara Massicot to take up this and other related questions: Why did those earlier reform efforts falter when attempted at scale with Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022? Is the Russian General Staff capable of initiating true reforms? Or, will the military successfully stymie reforms once again, even in the face of Russia's poor performance in Ukraine?

Lisa Saum-Manning, acting associate director of RAND's International Security and Defense Policy Center, will moderate the discussion.

Other authors of the report, The Russian General Staff: Understanding the Military's Decisionmaking Role in a "Besieged Fortress," are Sandra Kay Evans, Michelle Grisé, Mark Hvizda, Marta Kepe, Natasha Lander, and Krystyna Marcinek.

About ISDP

The International Security and Defense Policy Center (ISDP), part of RAND's National Security Research Division, conducts research and analysis that illuminates strategic security dynamics for the United States and its allies and partners. ISDP draws on cross-disciplinary teams applying mixed qualitative and quantitative methods to examine the political, military, economic, cultural, and technological dimensions of global security challenges. ISDP enables its sponsors to anticipate the security environment, develop grand and defense strategies, evaluate the effectiveness of military forces and other elements of national power, and enhance security cooperation with allies and partners.

Contact

Please register online to attend. Contact Katrina Doss-Owens with questions about the event.