Military bear is back

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By Sebastian Alison BLOOMBERG NEWS

MOSCOW | When British Gen. Sir Michael Rose commanded United Nations forces protecting Bosnia in the mid-1990s, he gained firsthand knowledge of Russia's army, which participated in the mission.

"They were worse than useless," the 68-year-old retired officer said in an interview.

Not any more.

Russia's five-day drubbing of the U.S.-trained and -equipped Georgian military this month followed a $200 billion buildup undertaken in 2006 and lessons learned from misadventures in Afghanistan and Chechnya.

"Today they're a reinvented institution and a military force to be reckoned with" after "10 years of humiliation and pressure from NATO," Gen. Rose said.

The resurgent military deployed in Georgia gives Russia a credible threat of force as it seeks to check the pro-Western aspirations of its neighbors. Backed by the United States, NATO in April promised Georgia and Ukraine, both former Soviet republics, eventual membership in the military alliance.

"The Russians regard the Georgian episode as merely the start of a sustained campaign to restore their country's sphere of influence," wrote Jonathan Eyal, director of international security studies at London's Royal United Services Institute, on its Web site. "It is now impossible to persuade the East Europeans that a Russian threat is remote."

Supported by a booming, oil-fueled economy, Russia has been increasing military spending since Vladimir Putin, now prime minister, became president in 2000, said Konstantin Makiyenko, a Russian defense analyst for the Center for Strategy and Technology Analysis.

The 2006 buildup further increased spending. Russia's annual military budget likely will top $41 billion this year and $50.68 billion in 2009, up from about $33.64 in 2007, according to Finance Ministry data published Aug. 22 by UralSib Financial Corp.

The budget is cloaked in secrecy, so it isn't known exactly how the money is spent.