Significant Russian Military Reforms

The Russians are releasing their military reform plans in bits and pieces.

In addition to some drastic personnel changes, such as reducing the overall percentage of the officer corps relative to the size of their force, other order-of-battle changes are coming

The Russian army is changing. In addition to troop-size reduction, yet another reform is aimed at fundamentally changing personnel composition and structure, especially within the Ground Forces.
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The main change will be a move from the current vertical chain of command of the Armed Forces, a military district-army-division-regiment structure, to a military district-operative command-brigade regime, in order to increase efficiency by abolishing redundant elements. Mobile permanent readiness brigades, consisting of battalions, will be capable of operating tactical maneuver groups, either independently or together with other brigades under joint command.
In addition, each military district will establish rapid response brigades, which will most likely be formed out of airborne units.

A significant increase in spending is also planned for next year:

Russia will spend nearly $50 billion in 2009 on buying weapons and hardware for its armed forces despite an economic crisis, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Thursday.
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Ivanov reported that the 2009 defence order, due to be considered as part of the national budget by parliament on Friday, was 1,300 billion roubles ($49.32 billion).

And finally, there's a major change coming in the military education establishment:

Along with the reform of the Russian military and the staff of the Defense Ministry, military education will also be reorganized. The number of military training institutions will be cut from 65 to 10 in a move that is sure to be unpopular. The Defense Ministry will retain six academies, one military university and three military science centers (that will be a new form of educational institution).
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The Defense Ministry noted that the military education system was expensive (with a budget of 900 million rubles) and inefficient. Military institutes do not attract a large number of students and the number of officers in the Russian armed forces is being rapidly curtailed. There will be no transition period for the reform, although some military training functions, particularly the preparation of military lawyers, will be transferred to civilian schools. Kommersant has learned that military psychologists, economists, translators and other narrow specialists will also be trained by civilians.

However, one wonders how much of the change in the training establishment is driven by a real desire to change the way the military is educated, or if motivated by a desire to seek efficiency and reduce operating costs to better funnel the expanding defence budget toward new purchases.

So the Russians are reinventing their force structure, purchasing vast quantities of new equipment, and consolidating the education establishment. The warning signs are clear and inevitable. The next major Russian military news will no doubt involve a drastic announcement of.... new uniforms.

UPDATED:
In this entertaining interview with a German magazine, the reporter challenges the Russian exaggerations of current geo-political situations:

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Mr. Nikonow, Georgian and Russian representatives met for face-to-face talks on Wednesday for the first time since armed conflict in South Ossetia began. The European Union summit in Brussels also plans to address the situation in Georgia and the European relationship with Russia. You recently wrote that Russia is 'returning to the big game' after military action in the Caucasus. But isn't Russia much more isolated internationally?

Vyacheslav Nikonov: Listen to people in Latin America, the Muslim world, Africa, India or China. There many looked on with understanding as Russia gave a United States marionette like Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili a good dressing down. Russia has more foreign friends than the Bush administration right now.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: You are exaggerating. Only Nicaragua has followed Russia's lead in recognizing South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Besides them, the Ba'ath Party in Syria, Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and the radical Islamic Hamas in the Palestinian territories favored the Russian course of action.

By: Widow 6-7