Editing Russian Armed Forces (section)

==Structure==
[[File:Belousov-HR.jpg|thumb|left|[[Minister of Defence (Russia)|Minister of Defence]], [[Andrey Belousov]]|272x272px]]

[[File:Valery Gerasimov official photo version 2022-10-03.jpg|thumb|left|[[Chief of the General Staff (Russia)|Chief of the General Staff]], General of the Army [[Valery Gerasimov]]|272x272px]]

The [[Defence Ministry of the Russian Federation]] serves as the administrative body of the Armed Forces. Since Soviet times, the General Staff has acted as the main commanding and supervising body of the Russian armed forces. "[T]he Soviet General Staff without the MoD is conceivable, but the MoD without the General Staff is not."{{sfn|Odom|1998|page=27}}

Other departments include the [[GRU (Russian Federation)|Main Intelligence Directorate]], the personnel directorate as well as the [[Logistical Support of the Russian Armed Forces]], [[Railway Troops of Russia|Railway Troops]], [[Russian Signal Troops|Signal Troops]] and [[Construction Troops (Russia)|Construction Troops]]. The Ministry of Defence incorporated the [[Military Police (Russia)|Main Directorate of the Military Police]] Since 1 December 2012. The Main Directorate of the Military Police oversees subordinated [[Military districts of Russia|military district]]s regional directorates of [[military police]].<ref>{{cite news|author=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.-->|date=3 July 2012|title=Военная полиция появится в России 1 декабря 2012 года|language=ru|work=[[Interfax]]|url=https://www.interfax.ru/russia/253641|access-date=22 April 2022|archive-date=23 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211023115756/https://www.interfax.ru/russia/253641|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Chief of the General Staff (Russia)|Chief of the General Staff]] is currently [[General of the army (Russia)|General of the Army]] [[Valery Gerasimov]].

In July 2018, the [[Main Military-Political Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces]] was created, restoring a responsibility for ideological training that had been done away with in the [[Soviet Armed Forces]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=31 July 2018|title=Putin gives Russian army a political wing|url=https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/putin-gives-russian-army-a-political-wing.685749|access-date=12 December 2021|website=Times of Malta|language=en-gb|archive-date=6 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220506003904/https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/putin-gives-russian-army-a-political-wing.685749|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Russian military is divided into three services: the [[Russian Ground Forces]], the [[Russian Navy]], and the [[Russian Aerospace Forces]]. In addition there are two independent ''arms of service'': the [[RVSN|Strategic Missile Troops]] and the [[Russian Airborne Troops]].  The Armed Forces as a whole are traditionally referred to as the '''Army''' (''armiya''), except in some cases, the Navy is specifically singled out.

===Military districts===
[[File:Military districts of Russia 2016.svg|thumb|upright 1.6|[[Military districts of Russia]] as of 2021.<br />{{legend|#FF8080|[[Western Military District]]}} {{legend|#78B3FF|[[Northern Fleet Joint Strategic Command (Russia)|Northern Military District]]}} {{legend|#D6A477|[[Southern Military District]]}} {{legend|#B3FF80|[[Central Military District]]}} {{legend|#FEC82C|[[Eastern Military District]]}}]]
Since late 2010, the Ground Forces as well as the Aerospace Forces and Navy are distributed among four [[military district]]s: [[Western Military District]], [[Southern Military District]], [[Central Military District]], and the [[Eastern Military District]] which also constitute four Joint Strategic Commands—West, South, Central, and East. Previously from 1992 to 2010, the Ground Forces were divided into six [[military district]]s: [[Moscow Military District|Moscow]], [[Leningrad Military District|Leningrad]], [[North Caucasus Military District|North Caucausian]], [[Volga-Ural Military District|Privolzhsk-Ural]], [[Siberian Military District|Siberian]] and [[Far East Military District|Far Eastern]], with the seventh military district: [[Kaliningrad Special Region|Kaliningrad]] formed in 1997; in service until 2010.

Russia's four naval fleets and one flotilla were organizations on par with the Ground Forces' Military Districts. These seven MDs were merged into the four new MDs, which now also incorporate the aerospace forces and naval forces. There is one remaining Russian military base, the [[102nd Military Base]], in Armenia left of the former [[Russian Transcaucasus Group of Forces|Transcaucasus Group of Forces]] and is incorporated into the Southern Military District.

In mid-2010 a reorganisation was announced which consolidated military districts and the navy's fleets into four Joint Strategic Commands (OSC).<ref>{{cite journal|first=Andrew|last=Wallace|url=http://www.bu.edu/phpbin/news-cms/news/?dept=732&id=56306|title=New military command structure and outsourcing initiatives|journal=THE ISCIP ANALYST (Russian Federation) an Analytical Review|publisher=Boston University|volume=XVI|issue=13|date=27 May 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021200710/http://www.bu.edu/phpbin/news-cms/news/?dept=732&id=56306|archive-date=21 October 2012}}</ref>
In 2014 the Northern Fleet was reorganized in separate Joint Strategic Command. Since 1 January 2021, this Command has the status of military district.<ref>{{cite news|author=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.-->|date=1 January 2021|title=Северный флот России получил статус военного округа|language=ru|work=[[Interfax]]|url=https://www.interfax.ru/russia/743819|access-date=16 September 2021|archive-date=20 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220120100431/https://www.interfax.ru/russia/743819|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Gennady Anashkin, 2024.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Army General [[Gennady Anashkin]], commander of the Southern Military District since 15 May 2024]] 
Geographically divided, the five commands/districts are:
* Joint Strategic Command West – [[Western Military District]] (HQ in [[St. Petersburg]]), includes the Baltic Fleet;
* Joint Strategic Command North – [[Northern Fleet Joint Strategic Command (Russia)|Northern Military District]] (HQ in [[Severomorsk]]), includes the Northern Fleet;
* Joint Strategic Command South – [[Southern Military District]] (HQ in [[Rostov-on-Don]]) includes the Black Sea Fleet and Caspian Flotilla;
* Joint Strategic Command Center – [[Central Military District]] (HQ in [[Yekaterinburg]]);
* Joint Strategic Command East – [[Eastern Military District]] (HQ in [[Khabarovsk]]), includes the Pacific Fleet.
The plan was put in place on 1 December 2010 and mirrors a proposed reorganisation by former [[Chief of the General Staff (Russia)|Chief of the General Staff]] [[Army General (Russia)|Army General]] [[Yuri Baluyevsky]] for a Regional Command East which was not implemented.<ref>{{cite news|first=Alexsander|last=Golts|url=http://www.themoscowtimes.com/opinion/article/3-heads-are-worse-than-one/410666.html|title=3 Heads are worse than one|newspaper=[[The Moscow Times]]|date=20 July 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100722071902/http://www.themoscowtimes.com/opinion/article/3-heads-are-worse-than-one/410666.html|archive-date=22 July 2010}}</ref> The four commands were set up by a decree of President Medvedev on 14 July 2010.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}} In July 2011, an Operational-Strategic Command of Missile-Space Defence has also been established on the basis of the former [[Special Purpose Command]] of the [[Russian Air Force]]. A Presidential decree of January 2011 named commanders for several of the new organisational structures.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.kremlin.ru/acts/10032|script-title=ru:Кадровые изменения в Вооружённых Силах|trans-title=Staffing changes in the Armed Forces|language=ru|publisher=[[Presidential Administration of Russia]]|date=9 January 2011|access-date=23 March 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110112174311/http://news.kremlin.ru/acts/10032|archive-date=12 January 2011}}</ref>

Russian security bodies not under the control of the Ministry of Defence include the [[Internal Troops]] of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (now the [[National Guard of Russia]]'s [[National Guard Forces Command]]), the [[Border Guard Service of Russia]] (part of the [[Federal Security Service]]), the [[Kremlin Regiment]] and the rest of the [[Federal Protective Service (Russia)|Federal Protective Service]], and the [[Ministry of Emergency Situations (Russia)|Ministry of Emergency Situations]], the country's civil defence service since 1995 and successor to earlier civil defence units.

===Naval fleets===
[[File:Zapad-2009 military exercises.jpg|thumb|''Mordovia'', a [[Russian Navy]] [[Zubr-class LCAC]]]]
[[File:Map of Northern Fleet bases ENG.svg|thumb|A map of naval bases, shipyards and spent fuel storage sites operated by the [[Northern Fleet]]|226x226px]]
The Navy consists of four fleets and one [[flotilla]]:
*[[Northern Fleet]] (HQ at [[Severomorsk]]) forms own Joint Strategic Command.
*[[Baltic Fleet]] (HQ at [[Kaliningrad]] in the exclave of [[Kaliningrad Oblast]]) subordinated to Joint Strategic Command West.
*[[Black Sea Fleet]] (HQ at [[Sevastopol]], disputed region of [[Crimea]]) subordinated to Joint Strategic Command South.
*[[Pacific Fleet (Russia)|Pacific Fleet]] (HQ at [[Vladivostok]]) subordinated to Joint Strategic Command East.
*[[Caspian Flotilla]] (HQ at [[Astrakhan]]) subordinated to Joint Strategic Command South.