Russian military faces more cuts, mergers

The Defence Ministry's shake-up of Russia's armed forces will continue with further changes expected in the near future, according to the Interfax news agency on Friday.

Among the planned changes, the Navy General Staff will be eliminated as a separate command and merged with one of the General Staff departments by 2012.

With the General Commands of Army, Navy and Air Forces facing more personnel cuts, their tasks will be transferred to a unified command. The transformation process would be completed by Dec. 1, 2010, the agency said.

Meanwhile, the newly created Western military district with its headquarters in St. Petersburg was up and running, deputy head of Russian General Staff Gen Velery Gerasimov said.

The Western district combines former Moscow and Leningrad military districts, Northern and Baltic fleets, along with their respective anti-aircraft defense units and air forces.

Source: Xinhua