The most powerful army in Asia. What are the armies of the Central Asian states ready for? Interview
History of the Russian people originally took place over vast geographical areas. Old Russian state, which arose in the 9th century, extended from White Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south, from the lower reaches of the Danube and the Carpathian Mountains in the west and the Volga-Oka interfluve in the east. This was the chronicled Russian land and the area of settlement of the ancient Russian people, which already in those distant times was distinguished by a strongly conscious unity with its land. The concept of Rus' came into history Kievan Rus from previous centuries. It has an ancient chronology and is localized in the southeast of the East Slavic area - this is the right bank of the Middle Full Rights - the Don region - the Azov region. On this territory in the 6th-7th centuries there was a strong tribal Russian union, which served in the 9th-10th centuries. the core for the formation of the Old Russian people, which included almost all East Slavic tribes.
The word Rus belongs to the Indo-European family of languages. The dual vocalization of the root Ros/Rus is a reflection of the ancient Indo-European vowel alternation in its local version. The original meaning of the word Rus is associated with the concept of light, white. Russian folk vocabulary retained this understanding until the twentieth century. The word Rus is like the whole wide world or the Tver concept in Rus', i.e. in an open place, space, on the south.
As East Slavic farmers settled in the Old Russian state, an ongoing process of internal land development took place, accompanied by ethnocultural contacts with multilingual peoples and, first of all, with the most geographically dispersed Balts (the Balts are peoples of Indo-European origin, speakers of the Baltic languages, who inhabited in the past and inhabit today the territory of the Baltic states from Poland and Kaliningrad region to Estonia) and Finno-Ugric peoples. In the 10th-12th centuries, the Slavic Russians began the massive development of the Volga-Oka basin, where the core of the historical and ethnic territory of the Russians was later formed. The Old Russian state perished under the onslaught of Batu's invasion (1240), which was accompanied by mass extermination of the population and destruction of cities. The result of the collapse of statehood and grand-ducal strife was the isolation of ethno-territorial associations, which in a historical perspective led to the formation of the Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian peoples.
The development of vast spaces by Russians is distinctive feature history of Russia. Very early the Russians mastered the basins of the great northern rivers– Pechora, Onega, Northern Dvina; in the 13th century, Russians already compactly populated North-Eastern Rus'; in the XVI-XV centuries. master secondary and Lower Volga region, Northern and Southern Urals, desolate due to the raids of nomads of the forest-steppe and steppe of Don Rus', as well as North Caucasus. The peculiarity of the Russian movement to the northeast and east is characterized by two important factors. This, first of all, was the abundance of free land, which allowed Russian settlers not to clash in their interests with indigenous peoples. Secondly, almost uninhabited spaces were being developed: in the northeast - the huge region of Pomerania with impenetrable forests and forest-tundras, with a cold subarctic climate; in the east - Trans-Volga region with dense forests and, beyond the Urals, southern Siberia, Altai and Transbaikalia; in the southeast there are vast spaces with semi-deserts up to Central Asia. The development of Siberia and Far East. As a result, from the 15th century the Russian state became Eurasian. This is an outstanding phenomenon of the Russians, who managed to unite the Eurasian space into a single state.
In the old Russian vocabulary there is a capacious and proud word: explorers. This was the name given to the first handful of brave people who discovered new lands and developed them economically themselves (as opposed to the colonial conquests of Europeans). Throughout the foreseeable future historical period Russians developed 21 million square meters. km of land. This became possible thanks to the creation of Russian statehood and the developed self-awareness of the people. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Russians were the second largest people in the world. Along with them, the population of the empire increased. If under Peter I the population of Russia was slightly more than 13 million people, then in 1913 it was 174 million. This increase occurred mainly due to rapid population growth; to a lesser extent due to the annexation of new lands. By the beginning of the twentieth century. Russians in the European part of Russia made up 90% of the population. The total number of Russians in 1913 was about 76 million people.
Since the beginning of the twentieth century. the number of Russians, despite significant losses as a result of two world wars and other socio-economic cataclysms, almost doubled. According to the 1989 census in the USSR, the number of all Russians was 145 million, including 120 million in Russia. This is explained not only by significant natural population growth, but also by merging with Russians separate groups other peoples. Since the 1970s, the growth rate of Russians began to decline noticeably due to sharp decline birth rate, and since the 1990s – also a sharply increased mortality rate. According to the 2000 census, the number of Russians in Russia was 126 million people. The increase by 6 million people in the number of Russians in Russia compared to the 1989 census was solely due to the influx of the Russian population from the former Soviet republics to Russia (approximately 4 million people), as well as due to changes in ethnic identity among part of the population of other nationalities , living in Russia; In addition, since 2000, natural population growth rates have stabilized slightly.
The settlement pattern is also changing. Already during the 1980s, there was a decrease in the migration of Russians outside Russia, with their simultaneous outflow from the former Soviet republics. In the 1990s, ethnotransformation processes (the process is called ethnotransformation, when, when individual components of an ethnic group change, the ethnic self-awareness of the people included in it changes, and at the same time, a person’s ethnicity also changes) intensified. The flow of Russian migrants to non-CIS countries has increased. As a result of depopulation processes (depopulation processes - a decrease in population growth rates, a decrease in its size), demographers predict a significant reduction in the Russian population by the middle of the 21st century.
The Russian language belongs to the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic group, which is part of the Indo-European family of languages. It is the most widely spoken language in the world, one of the six official and working languages of the UN, as well as one of the five working languages of the parliamentary assemblies of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. Before the collapse of the USSR, the total number of Russian speakers was about 250 million people. From Ancient Rus' The Russian language inherited its written language. The modern Russian alphabet is based on the Cyrillic alphabet, one of the oldest Slavic alphabet.
Orthodoxy played an ethno-consolidating role (ethno-consolidation - people’s attitude to language, national-cultural ideology) at all stages of Russian history. Russian Orthodoxy continues this historical mission in modern conditions. Folk traditions celebrations of Easter, Trinity, the Nativity of Christ, the Dormition and many temple (throne) holidays help strengthen family, kinship and territorial ethnic ties.
The ethnocultural unity of the Russian people throughout the entire space of their settlement did not exclude the diversity of differences and features in different sides life. These features and differences were formed during the ethnic history of Russians under the influence of the diversity of natural and climatic conditions and, accordingly, territorial and economic ways of life. Therefore, ethnographic literature traditionally distinguishes ethnocultural areas (from area - area, space), characterized by the specifics of dialects, anthropological types, the presence of ethnographic population groups, ethnocultural characteristics in economic activities, crafts and material culture, diversity of local customs and rituals with unity general model ritual and festive culture. For example, ethnographers traditionally distinguish northern and southern ethnocultural areas in the European territory of Russian settlement, and an intermediate center between them. This division is based on differences in dialects and elements folk culture. Back at the beginning of the twentieth century. these differences between the North Russian and South Russian areas were very noticeable. During the twentieth century. some ethnocultural differences were being smoothed out (especially in clothing, as well as in language, local dialects were being smoothed out - there were almost no regional dialects left). But the lives of northern and southern Russians will have their own peculiarities, since the noticeable difference in natural and climatic zones also affects the specifics of everyday culture.
Every people on earth is a biosocial and cultural-historical phenomenon. Each people made its own special contribution to civilization processes. The Russians have done a lot on this path. But the main thing, according to some historical providence, that it fell to the Russians to accomplish was to unite the vast Eurasian expanses from the Baltic to Pacific Ocean into a single historical, sociocultural and at the same time ethnically diverse space. This is an outstanding cultural and civilizational phenomenon of Russians.
As a result of the collapse Soviet Union on its Asian part five completely independent states– Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan – which received not only their own separate leadership, but also national armed forces. All military property, which previously belonged to the army of the USSR and which ended up on the territories of these states, with the exception of strategic missile systems and nuclear weapons, became the basis for the creation of national armies.
It should be noted that there was an abundance of weapons and military equipment in these territories. Therefore, if at the initial stage of nationalization of military property the military leadership sought to accumulate an arsenal, then later a problem arose: how to dispose of the accumulated military property?
In addition to this problem, there were others, no less significant. So, for example, as it turned out, significant funds were needed to maintain and protect military arsenals, and the budgets of the newly formed republics did not have the ability to allocate them in the required volume. In addition, these military warehouses began to represent great danger for the lives of people in nearby settlements. A striking example This is due to the situation with military arsenals in Turkmenistan, where problems were noted with the storage of toxic rocket fuel, which was contained in railway tanks, as well as repeated fires and explosions of ammunition in warehouses in other Asian republics, which were laid down in the middle of the last century.
In the current situation, state governments Central Asia were forced to take immediate security measures. As a priority measure, an inventory of military property was carried out, on the basis of which new arsenals were formed. And even despite the fact that in each of these republics this process had its own characteristics, it was still based on identical principles and factors.
Thus, based on the actual number of armed forces in each country, two groups of weapons were formed, which were used in certain conditions. One of them is combat training, which was used to train personnel. The second is a combat group that was stored in the territories military units and which was to be used in conditions of military conflict.
A certain part of the weapons was disassembled into spare parts and stored in a warehouse for the purpose of further use if necessary to repair or replace parts of identical weapons. What was superfluous was sold to other states, and what was no longer suitable for use was subject to disposal. And a little later, when Soviet models of military equipment and weapons became outdated both morally and physically, the leadership of states was faced with the urgent question of carrying out repairs and modernization of this equipment, as well as the need to purchase more modern weapons.
It should be noted that currently the military expenditures of the Central Asian states have increased significantly. So, for example, the expenses of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan amount to about 1.5 billion dollars a year, which is tens of times higher than the military budgets of countries such as Kyrgyzstan or Tajikistan.
As for weapons, we are currently talking about the following indicators: the Kazakh army is armed with more than 2.2 thousand armored personnel carriers and about 980 tanks, 280 fighter aircraft and helicopters with total number personnel 70 thousand people. In Uzbekistan there are 340 tanks, 700 armored personnel carriers, 500 guns and 135 fighters and 50 thousand military personnel. The armed forces of Turkmenistan have about 1,940 armored personnel carriers, 112 airplanes and helicopters, 680 tanks and 20 thousand personnel. The Tajik army has only 46 armored personnel carriers, 3 tanks, 3 helicopters and one airplane. The number of personnel is 16 thousand people.
Undoubtedly, priority in the field of weapons belongs to the Russian Federation, as the legal successor of the Soviet Union. She not only managed to save the enterprises military industry who acted in Soviet time, but also to form new enterprises jointly with the CIS countries for the production of military equipment and weapons. Thus, in close cooperation with enterprises of the Commonwealth countries, communications equipment is already being produced; it is planned to create drones, radar and optoelectronic systems, as well as new models of airplanes and helicopters. It should also be noted that every year the volume of state defense orders increases, and in the future it is planned not only to develop new technologies for the production of cartridges, boats, automated controls, ships, radar equipment, fire and rescue equipment, and modernization equipment various systems, but also the construction of new factories.
In order to understand the features of the development of the military-industrial complex as a whole on the territory of the Asian part of the post-Soviet space, it is necessary to dwell in more detail on the military component of these states, and the influence on it from Russia and other countries far abroad.
Thus, the main part of the enterprises of the military-industrial complex, which are located in Kazakhstan, are focused on the production of naval equipment (this state of affairs was also typical for Soviet period).
In addition, some aviation products and assemblies are also produced for aircraft repair and aircraft manufacturing enterprises in the CIS countries - Ukraine, Russia, Uzbekistan and Belarus. And if we take into account the fact that the cost of spare parts, fuels and lubricants, ammunition and weapons has remained relatively low, then the trend towards maintaining and developing cooperation with Russian military defense enterprises will continue in the future. So, for example, the military department of Kazakhstan intends to purchase a certain quantity from Russia training aircraft Yak-130.
In addition to cooperation with Russia, there is significant interest in cooperation with post-Soviet Asian republics and other countries of the world, in particular the United States of America and Germany.
Thus, the Americans do not hide the fact that they intend to maintain their military base in Kyrgyzstan, as well as create several similar bases in the territories of other Central Asian states - in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. And the media even reported that closed negotiations were held regarding the transfer of surplus American weapons and military equipment that was being withdrawn from Afghan territory. These negotiations allegedly took place during the visit of Lieutenant General Vincent Brooks (American commander of the ground forces) to Tashkent and Dushanbe in November 2011.
Then the talk was about the transfer of small volumes of digital radio stations, unmanned aerial vehicles, sets of individual equipment, armored vehicles and armored personnel carriers, tanks, air defense equipment, artillery systems And small arms equipped with night vision devices.
Apparently American military leadership came to the conclusion that there was no point in transferring such highly professional weapons into the hands of the Afghan military, since they would not be able to master it anyway. Moreover, there is a real threat that these weapons will end up in the hands of militants. The armed forces of the post-Soviet space will be able to easily master this technique. But such free assistance has one big “but”: in the future it may turn out to be the basis for drawing these republics into military-technical cooperation with NATO countries and the United States of America.
In addition to the issue of transfer of equipment, other topics were discussed during the visit, in particular, the possibility of creating American training centers on the territory of these states, in which the military of Central Asian countries could take training courses new technology. Let us remind you that the American military is already operating in Tajikistan The educational center, in which special forces groups are trained. According to reports from the American Embassy, over 20 years, the US authorities have transferred about $984 million to develop the economy, healthcare, education and democracy in Tajikistan.
In addition, cooperation is being established between the countries of Central Asia and Germany. In particular, the German government has provided significant financial assistance Uzbekistan is in the process of creating a national professional armed forces, and also sells military equipment that was once used by the Bundeswehr.
In addition, military enterprises from Israel, China, and South Korea are also trying to gain positions in the Central Asian market.
Despite this, it is quite obvious that Russia will provide significant assistance to these states in terms of the military and defense industry. As for America, here, too, according to experts, everything is simple - the Pentagon has never done anything without benefit for itself. Military assistance to the post-Soviet Central Asian republics will not be an exception. The Americans will not only be able to get rid of surplus military equipment and weapons that remain from the campaign in Afghanistan, but will also be able to strengthen the isolation of Iran, which is a very important task for them at present.
The strength of a country and its political weight have always been determined by the power of its army. This is especially true in Asia, where today there are many unresolved territorial and border problems.
Sixth place: Japan
Today, Japan is increasingly announcing the restoration of its status as a regional center of power with claims to the role of leader in the Asia-Pacific region. And for this it has the necessary potential: a strong economic foundation, the development of the military-industrial complex - Japan, one of the world leaders in shipbuilding. And the presence of the nuclear industry allows for the possibility of creating nuclear weapons.
Today, following the results of World War II, Japan does not have the right to create and maintain own army. The Japan Self-Defense Forces are officially civil organization without the right to participate in military conflicts outside the state. But how long will “Japanese pacifism” last? In early June, Japanese authorities announced their intention to lift the 1947 constitutional ban on the participation of its troops in hostilities abroad. They also intend to provide military assistance to friendly states.
The news is not the most optimistic for Japan's potential adversaries. In addition to obvious technical superiority, the Country rising sun boasts 2 thousand years of military history. More than one martial art was born here, and most importantly, its own warrior philosophy. Even in the medieval samurai code “Bushido”, one of the most important postulates was the willingness to die with dignity for one’s master. Medieval orders in the 20th century led to the creation of kamikaze squads, which caused terror among the allied forces.
In terms of its potential, Japan rightfully ranks sixth in our ranking of Asian countries with the strongest armies. To date, its funding amounts to 58.97 billion dollars. For the entire population of Japan - 127.8 million people, there are 247 thousand military personnel and 60 thousand people in reserve. In terms of technical equipment, the country's self-defense forces have 5,320 units ground equipment, 1965 – aircraft, 110 ships.
Fifth place: Iran
The Iranian army consists of two clearly certain groups. On the one hand, it is a large, poorly armed regular army, on the other, an elite formation with a powerful ideological position and its own funding. The latter, the guards of the revolution "Pandasars", include ground, air and sea troops, as well as special forces and are subordinate to the leader of the revolution, the head of state. Today, there are 230 thousand people in its ranks, of which 150 thousand are military and just over 100 thousand are engineers, technicians, and scientists.
The regular ground army consists of 350 thousand soldiers, 220 thousand conscripts, 1,600 armored vehicles. The Air Force includes 52 thousand people and 300 combat aircraft, the Navy - 23 thousand people and three submarines. Recruitment is formed according to the conscription system.
Today, the main advantage of the Iranian army is its defensive systems. In particular, Iran's air defense, based on Russian technologies. But at the same time, the country has almost completely no offensive potential. The Iranian army was almost completely destroyed during the war with Iraq in the 80s of the last century and has not yet been fully restored. True, since 2007 the state has managed to stabilize the country’s defense budget, which remains at 3% of GDP.
Fourth place: DPRK
The armies of South and North Korea can compete for 4th place. Despite the impressive dominance in technical equipment, South Korea is significantly inferior to North Korea in combat personnel. In the DPRK, almost every second person is either a soldier or subject to military service. The conscript's term of service can be up to 10 years. During this time, the soldier has to give his all “for the Motherland.” In particular, they are taught Kyoksuldo, a traditional martial art of North Korea, which Kim Il Sung developed on the basis of Taekkyeon (the oldest Korean martial art) to fight the Japanese.
The DPRK special forces are also recognized as one of the most combat-ready in the world. According to preliminary estimates, it includes more than 100 thousand people. According to military doctrine North Korea's special forces troops are designed to conduct sabotage and reconnaissance operations behind enemy lines, as well as to support agents. In the event of the outbreak of hostilities, their primary task is guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines. The most important distinctive feature of the Korean special forces is the ability to self-destruct - in the event of failure of the operation and the impossibility of retreat, they must sacrifice their lives.
North Korea has also surpassed South Korea in terms of the number of weapons: on the territory of the DPRK there are 3,500 tanks, 2,500 armored personnel carriers, 72 submarines and more than a hundred aircraft. But the most important trump card of the DPRK is nuclear weapon: nuclear land mines, nuclear sea mines, torpedoes, air bombs and so on. At the same time, accurate information about nuclear missile potential Neither domestic experts nor Western experts have a country. According to rough estimates, the DPRK is armed with tactical missiles"Luna" with a reach of 55 km and "Luna-M" - 70 km, as well as operational-tactical missiles "Scud-V/S" - 300 km, "Nodon-1" - 550-600 km, "Tephodon" - 1500 km and Tephodong-2 – up to 7000 km. Presumably, the DPRK has 50-200 Nodon class missiles1 and 500-600 Scud class missiles2.
Third place: Pakistan
The Pakistani army is one of the largest in Asia (500 thousand soldiers) with military funding of 3% of the country's GDP. In conditions where the army is ascribed an almost messianic role, the complex of training a professional soldier represents a unique ideology in which nationalism and religious values are familiar components. The main idea is “fight to the end in the name of defending the Motherland.”
The Pakistan Army consists of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard. Conscription age is from 17 to 23 years.
In the context of constant border conflicts, Pakistan has a doctrine called “Capability Enhancement Policy” or simply “Pakistan Nuclear Doctrine”, which implies a massive impact against aggression directed towards the country. In addition, in the last few years, Pakistan's military engineers have made significant strides in the field of rocket science, and today their creations can cause problems for any country in the region. According to experts, Pakistani rocket science is bringing the country closer to world leaders in the field. nuclear weapons. And the parallel build-up of the arsenal of India and Pakistan resembles the situation Cold War between the USSR and the USA in the last century.
Second place: India
In parallel with Pakistan, the Republic of India is building up its armament, whose army, according to experts, is the strongest and most dynamically developing in South Asia. It has 1,325 million soldiers in its assets; according to last year’s data, 2,142,821 million people are in reserve. The country has 2,452 aircraft and 175 ships. Additionally, in 1974, India held its first nuclear test- Operation Smiling Buddha, and in the 1990s entered the list of countries unofficially possessing nuclear weapons. China boasts the largest army. According to Vladimir Evseev, director of the Center for Social and Political Research, the size of the Chinese army is 2.25 million people. There are more than 2 thousand combat aircraft in service, 4.5 thousand armored vehicles, as well as 8580 tanks. Total funding exceeds $106 billion, which is twice as much as Russia. According to Secretary General CPC Central Committee Xi Jilping, the PRC army must ensure victory in any wave.
In addition to its large numbers and military capabilities, China has a centuries-old tradition of military strategy. From the sources of wisdom, the most famous are seven classical treatises - Wu Jing Qi Shu, recognized back in the 11th century, as well as the treatise “Thirty-six Stratagems” (Thirty-six tricks) - a collection of implicit strategic techniques and indirect tactical moves to achieve a hidden goal, gain an advantage and initiatives. After the 1960s, the study of its tenets became a routine part of warrior training. They teach the ability to make good out of nothing, to sacrifice less to achieve more.
The growth of the Chinese army today is of great concern to many of its neighbors, in particular Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam, with which the Celestial Empire has ongoing disputes over the East China and South China Seas. But Western experts say that despite its ambitions, the Chinese army has virtually no offensive and combat experience.
Toktogul Kakchekeev is a colonel in the reserve of the Armed Forces of Kyrgyzstan. He graduated from the military-political combined arms faculty of the Leningrad Higher Political School of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, the second faculty of the Moscow Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, College of Strategic Studies and Defense Economics named after J.S. Marshall. Participated in 6 humanitarian operations- including in the Kyrgyz-Tajik border land-water conflict (1989), in the Kyrgyz-Uzbek interethnic conflict in the Osh region (1990)
Toktogul Kakchekeev- Colonel in the reserve of the Armed Forces of Kyrgyzstan. He graduated from the military-political combined arms faculty of the Leningrad Higher Political School of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, the second faculty of the Moscow Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, College of Strategic Studies and Defense Economics named after J.S. Marshall. Participated in 6 humanitarian operations - including in the Kyrgyz-Tajik border land-water conflict (1989), in the Kyrgyz-Uzbek interethnic conflict in the Osh region (1990), in organizing mountain rescue operations of the troops of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Kyrgyzstan while repelling an attack by international gangs , who invaded the Batken region of Kyrgyzstan (1999). Chairman of the working group “Crisis Management in Central Asia” of a consortium of military academies and universities studying security issues (2001). Author of more than 120 published works on issues special tactics combating organized crime, extremism, terrorism, separatism, criminology, political science.
IA REGNUM: What is the current combat capability of the Kyrgyz army??
It is difficult to compare the Kyrgyz army with any other Central Asian army. Kazakhstan, for example, now has the most combat-ready army in Central Asia. There are about 200 thousand personnel in Uzbekistan. About 10-12 years ago, when representatives of the Taliban broke into Uzbekistan, the army was unable to repel the attack, abandoned its armored vehicles and simply ran away. But it was a long time ago. Surely, appropriate conclusions were drawn from this case.
IA REGNUM: What else can you say about the Armed Forces of Uzbekistan?
The Uzbeks retained all the weapons of the Turkestan Military District and negotiated the supply of high-precision weapons from the Russian President for the fifth arm of the gas pipeline. They are not only in political, but also military competition with Kazakhstan, Tajikistan or Kyrgyzstan; they have real, conscious training of the army according to NATO standards in case it joins the military bloc. That is why NATO specialists are around Islam Karimov. In general, the army of Uzbekistan is developing, becoming saturated with modern equipment and supported by political contacts with the goal of joining NATO. Which is most likely what will happen, since the republic has lost to Kazakhstan in terms of the economic, resource, transport, transit and other power of the country.
Nazarbayev’s proximity to Russia further encourages Uzbekistan to make some inappropriate decisions. Uzbekistan also expresses its dissatisfaction with the fact that it lost internal competition for 1st place in Central Asia with unflattering reviews of Kazakhstan: it was stated that 70% natural resources- gas and oil fields— the Kazakhs sold and after that they hope for independence and development. This is a reproach to Nazarbayev.
IA REGNUM: How strong is the army of Kazakhstan?
The army of Kazakhstan is developing according to the Russian model. They created more military districts, of which one special one was the southern military district. During the exercises for the transfer of manpower and equipment from north to south, about 150 wagons were used - this is a lot. They deployed operational-tactical anti-aircraft system defense in the south, prepared launches of operational-tactical missiles. And Kazakhstan has fulfilled all this at the highest level. The republic today has military educational institutions, research centers and the Nuclear Energy and Space Agency. This suggests that Kazakhstan, despite the difficulties, is boldly entering the technological zone in order to follow the path of South Korea and Japan. In addition, Nazarbayev was the first president in the world who created an ecumenical council of all faiths, held twice, built a cathedral synagogue, where the Russian Orthodox Church feels great, and Islam accordingly. He managed to solve those problems that most often trouble any multi-religious society.
As for the weapons of Turkmenistan, they have very strong armored, aviation technology, which Ukraine supplies them with petrodollars.
IA REGNUM: To what extent are the armed forces of Kyrgyzstan able to withstand an external threat??
The Kyrgyz army serves only as a symbol of the state apparatus as a guarantor territorial integrity and repelling possible attacks from outside. But the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan in 1999-2000 showed how ready Kyrgyzstan is to repel blows. The trouble is that the Kyrgyz army fell into the hands of crooks who sold the weapons, ammunition, equipment, equipment and even rocket fuel left over from the USSR. As a result, we have the following: one general has already been imprisoned, the second general, Ismail Isakov, is under investigation, another escaped along with Akaev, another was captured. And today, to say that the Kyrgyz army is combat-ready is, of course, reckless. General of the Kyrgyz Armed Forces, law enforcement, fiscal authorities, smiling in the face of Akaev, simply sold it in March 2005. Such fame does not give hope to citizens that this top army is capable of anything. The only respected general who is trusted is Myrzakan Subanov, who grew up as a general in the Russian expanses. There are also several young generals who commanded units in Russia, have combat experience, experience in training troops, deploying troops, but they are not seen at point-blank range because they do not count among “their own.”
IA REGNUM: How does promotion work in the Kyrgyz troops? Based on what: talents, training or family ties?
According to the Asian mentality, it is customary to bring relatives, eunuchs, relatives of treasurers, relatives of guards closer to khans and sultans. In Kyrgyzstan they don’t look at what academy you graduated from. There were cases when graduates of automobile schools were appointed to command non-staff units. In foreign armies there are special war managers - general-arms officers, these are usually infantrymen, riflemen and tank crews. They replace each other. In Kyrgyzstan, on the issue of promotion to the highest officer positions something incomprehensible is happening. Most Experienced generals and officers were simply fired. After all, when someone from the regional command comes to the post of minister, he tries to immediately recruit his own.
IA REGNU.M.: What can you say about the training of soldiers??
In 18 years I have only seen once how they were carried out live shooting from armored personnel carriers, from infantry fighting vehicles, from howitzer artillery, mortars, tank guns. Commanders don't know what level driving is at armored vehicles, the ability to secretly conduct tank marches, etc. I have never seen or heard anything like this. And when in the quiet of offices they say: “We are ready,” I want to ask the question: “Why?” Are you ready to die just like that, or are you ready to give up like before, or are you ready to say that we are not ready?
In Central Asia, they are preparing for a war of all against all, believes Alexander Khramchikhin, deputy director of the Institute of Political and Military Analysis.
Of the five Central Asian countries, Kazakhstan is the strongest and most militarily stable. Its armed forces (AF) are divided into four commands (Astana, East, West and South). The ground forces include ten mechanized, four air assault, one missile, seven artillery, two rocket-artillery, two anti-tank, three engineer, one coastal defense, one peacekeeping brigade. In service there are up to 1 thousand tanks (T-80, T-72 and T-62), several BMPT (Kazakhstan became the first and so far the only country to buy this vehicle), up to 2 thousand infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers, up to 250 self-propelled guns, up to 700 towed artillery pieces, up to 400 MLRS "Hurricane" and "Grad".
Kazakhstan will repel Uzbek aggressors
The Kazakh Air Force and Air Defense have ten aviation and anti-aircraft missile regiments. These include 15 Su-24 bombers and 12 reconnaissance aircraft, more than 25 Su-27 and 40 MiG-29 fighters, more than 40 MiG-31 interceptors (Kazakhstan is the only country in the world other than Russia to operate this very powerful and very complex aircraft) and 15 of their predecessors MiG-25, several MiG-27 fighter-bombers (these aircraft are outdated and are being withdrawn from the Air Force), up to 15 Su-25 attack aircraft, up to 40 transport aircraft, 90 helicopters, including at least 40 attack Mi-24 and 12 heavy transport Mi-26, several dozen air defense systems various types, including S-300P.
The Kazakh Navy consists of one and a half dozen patrol boats of Russian, South Korean, American, German and its own (according to Russian projects) the buildings. It is planned to begin construction of missile boats. The level of training of military personnel is very high, very great attention, in particular, is given to non-commissioned officers.
Astana strives not to depend too much on anyone in terms of the development of the armed forces, trying to import weapons and equipment from different countries, as well as create its own military-industrial complex, which is also technologically tied to different countries. In Kazakhstan, production of Turkish Cobra armored vehicles, European multi-purpose helicopters EC-145 will be organized (or has already begun), and eight European C-295 transport aircraft will be purchased instead of the outdated An-26. They are armed with American Hummers and British Land Rovers. Nevertheless, the predominant orientation towards Russia remains.
Kazakhstan is much more Europeanized and much more economically prosperous than its southern neighbors. In addition, the proportion of the Slavic population here is much higher, and the Kazakhs themselves are much less Islamized than residents of other Central Asian countries. Nevertheless, a certain “creeping” Islamization still occurs. This process will develop, apparently not very quickly, but steadily. It may accelerate significantly after the withdrawal of US and NATO troops from Afghanistan, after which there will be a very high probability of Taliban expansion to the north.
The “classic” military threats for Kazakhstan are, firstly, Uzbekistan, and secondly, in the relatively distant future, China. Option of war between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan (not if there is a war in Uzbekistan islamic revolution, and to today's secularists) seems frankly surreal, but in Astana they take it seriously. The demographic potential of Uzbekistan is almost twice as high as that of Kazakhstan, and social tension is very high. For totalitarian regimes (such as the Karimov regime), in some cases external aggression turns out to be a more preferable option than civil war. If Islamists come to power in Uzbekistan, war becomes almost inevitable.
As for China, for it Kazakhstan is an ideal direction of expansion, since this country has a very large territory with a small population, as well as a huge amount of natural resources. In addition, by taking control of Kazakhstan, Beijing is putting a geopolitical checkmate on Moscow. At the same time, it is clear that the armed forces of Kazakhstan alone will not be able to provide serious resistance to the PLA. In this regard, an extremely interesting question arises: will Moscow come to the aid of Astana in the event of Chinese aggression? Unfortunately, it is impossible to answer “yes” with one hundred percent certainty. In this regard, Kazakhstan is trying to develop ties with NATO, seeing it as an additional anti-Chinese insurance policy. Here Astana does gross mistake(although common). If the question of whether Russia will come to the rescue cannot be answered “yes” with certainty, then a similar question in relation to NATO can be answered “no” with 1000 percent certainty. On post-Soviet space They just can’t understand what today’s NATO really is. In particular, no one drew any conclusions from the August war of 2008, when the alliance did not come to the aid of Georgia, which was earnestly bending before it.
Uzbekistan is dangerous in any form
Uzbekistan has the second most powerful armed forces in Central Asia, while bordering all other countries in the region. The Armed Forces of Uzbekistan include four military districts (Northwestern, Central, Eastern and Southwestern), as well as the Operational Command (responsible for the defense of Tashkent). They consist of eleven motorized rifle, one tank, one rocket-artillery, one special forces, one mountain, one airborne, three air assault, five engineering teams. The inventory consists of 340 tanks (half of them are obsolete T-62; apparently, there are up to 2 thousand more tanks in storage), 400 infantry fighting vehicles and infantry fighting vehicles, more than 500 armored personnel carriers, up to 140 self-propelled guns, at least 200 towed guns, more 100 MLRS, including fifty Hurricanes. The Air Force has up to 30 Su-24 bombers and reconnaissance aircraft, 20 Su-25 attack aircraft (as well as up to 30 outdated Su-17), 30 MiG-29 and 25 Su-27 fighters, at least 40 transport aircraft, from 30 to 50 attack helicopters Mi-24, up to 90 transport and multi-purpose helicopters. Not all equipment is in combat-ready condition. For example, only six or seven Su-27 fighters are combat-ready.
The total number of personnel is about 70 thousand people, with at least another 20 thousand in other law enforcement agencies. The level of combat training is considered quite high; officers are trained in educational institutions in both the CIS countries and in the West. However, this mainly applies to elite units. Unlike Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan is not capable of producing weapons and equipment (even under foreign licenses). The only serious enterprise of the military-industrial complex inherited from the USSR, the Tashkent aircraft plant, which produced Il-76 transport aircraft, was destroyed.
The country has a strict authoritarian regime and a very high level of corruption. The secular democratic opposition to Karimov has been completely crushed and purged, so the only real opposition to the Tashkent regime is radical Islamists. First of all, the well-known pan-Islamic organization Hizb-ut-Tahrir. Although it was founded back in 1953 in Jerusalem, currently Uzbekistan has become one of its main strongholds. No less famous is the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. From the representatives of the peoples former USSR It was the Uzbeks and Chechens who were most “noted” in hot spots, actively fighting in the ranks of the Taliban in Afghanistan and among al-Qaeda militants in Iraq. Therefore, the country is very vulnerable to possible Taliban expansion in the future.
Bishkek, Dushanbe and Astana are deeply suspicious of Tashkent's ambitions. And the Fergana Valley, bordering Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, is the “powder keg” of Central Asia. It has the highest population density, high level unemployment, especially among young people. This makes the valley's population very vulnerable to the propaganda of Islamic radicals. And since there are neighboring countries where there are very significant Uzbek communities, a major revolt in the Fergana Valley will blow up not only Uzbekistan itself, but also three neighboring countries. Moreover, if large and powerful Kazakhstan can survive such an explosion, then for small failed Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan it will truly be like death.
On the other hand, due to its economic, demographic and military potential, geographical location and the presence of Uzbek communities in neighboring countries, Uzbekistan has the opportunity to actively influence all other countries of Central Asia, achieving its dominance in the region. That is, both a powerful and stable Uzbekistan and an Uzbekistan that has fallen into chaos are dangerous for its neighbors. In both cases, there is a threat of military conflict.
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have only the name left from the army
The failed states of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are extremely vulnerable to both the Uzbek and Taliban threats, and there is no point in even talking about the Chinese threat, it is so easy for China to crush both of these countries if it wants. The armed forces of these two countries are very weak.
The Armed Forces of Kyrgyzstan have one motorized rifle division, one mountain division, two special forces, two air defense brigades, and a number of other units and subunits. In service - from 150 to 200 tanks, approximately 450 infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers, up to 250 artillery systems (including 20 self-propelled guns and MLRS), about 30 obsolete MiG-21 fighters (it is not a fact that at least one of them is capable of taking off ), 10 Mi-24 attack helicopters, more than 20 Mi-8 transport helicopters. The number of personnel in the Armed Forces is 11 thousand people, with approximately the same number in other law enforcement agencies.
On the territory of Kyrgyzstan there is the 999th air base of the Russian Air Force and a number of other Russian military facilities.
The Armed Forces of Tajikistan include two motorized rifle infantry, one air assault, one artillery brigade. The Tajik army is armed with about 40 tanks, up to 100 infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers, about 30 artillery systems (including several Grads), about two dozen Mi-24 and Mi-8 helicopters. The number of personnel of all law enforcement agencies does not reach 20 thousand people.
On the territory of Tajikistan there is the Russian 201st military base, whose combat potential is higher than that of all the armed forces of Tajikistan. Like the 999th air base in Kyrgyzstan, it is organizationally part of the Central Military District of the Russian Federation. Only these bases actually ensure the security of both countries. In this regard, the situation looks at least strange when Bishkek or Dushanbe begin to blackmail Moscow with bases. It is doubly surprising that Moscow regularly resorts to this blackmail, as if we need the bases more than Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
The level of combat and moral-psychological training in both armies is very low. Both countries have acute internal conflicts, ethnic, social and religious. In Tajikistan, the main conflict is between the authorities and the Islamic opposition, in Kyrgyzstan - between North and South and between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks. Therefore, the armies are not only weak, but also lack internal unity.
Neutral Army of Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan, which is not a member of the CSTO and is purely formally included in the CIS, lives in a kind of “parallel space”. Political and military neutrality here is elevated to absolute (for example, the main state Russian-language newspaper of the country is called “Neutral Turkmenistan”). Although the outright surrealism of the era of “Turkmenbashi the Great”, that is, Saparmurad Niyazov, is a thing of the past under the new President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, this country really is not going to be anyone’s ally or enemy. By the way, you can remember that when Afghanistan was 90% controlled by the Taliban, Ashgabat was in excellent terms with Kabul mutual language. Which, however, does not at all guarantee the country the absence of Taliban expansion at its new stage. In 2002, Turkmenistan had a border conflict with Uzbekistan over the division of gas fields, but it did not escalate into war.
The Armed Forces of Turkmenistan number three in the ground forces motorized rifle divisions, two air defense and motorized rifle brigades, artillery and missile brigades. It is armed with 700 tanks (including 10 T-90S), from 700 to 1000 infantry fighting vehicles, more than 800 armored personnel carriers, about 600 artillery systems (including 130 MLRS, of which 60 Hurricanes and 6 Smerchs). The Air Force has more than 20 MiG-29 fighters, up to 100 Su-17 and Su-25 attack aircraft, 10 Mi-24 attack helicopters.
The Turkmen fleet, in addition to a dozen Russian, Ukrainian, American and Turkish patrol boats with symbolic weapons, has two missile boats, Project 12418, each of which carries 16 Uran anti-ship missiles. The number of personnel of the Armed Forces is about 20 thousand people. Thanks to very high oil and gas revenues and a small population, Ashgabat has begun purchasing from Russia in recent years the latest weapons(T-90S tanks, Smerch MLRS, missile boats). So far, however, little of this has been acquired. Nevertheless, theoretically, Turkmenistan is capable of surpassing Uzbekistan in its military potential, where special development The sun has not yet been observed.
Thus, in the Central Asian region there are many intrastate and interstate latent conflicts, as well as external threats from the Taliban (and, possibly, Pakistan behind them) and China (which, by the way, is Pakistan’s main strategic ally). Until now, these conflicts have manifested themselves in relatively limited ways. However, the almost inevitable expansion of the Taliban to the north after 2014 will become the strongest catalyst for all these conflicts with completely unpredictable consequences. In addition, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan may become hot spots at any time due to their permanent social problems.