A Leaner, Meaner Russian Army

From Foreign Policy Blog:

As I mentioned in the Morning Brief today, the Russian army is planning to fire an astonishing 35,000 officers this year as part of an effort launched under Vladimir Putin to cut the force down below 1 million by 2012. But it's not just the junior level officers who are getting the boot.

RIA-Novosti reports today that 50 of Russia's 249 generals will be fired after failing an aptitude test.

We are not going to keep officers who are not fit for their positions," Gen. Pankov told journalists, as reports indicated around one-fifth of officers had failed the military aptitude test.

Read more ....

My Comment: These guys better have good pensions .... otherwise there is going to be a lot of grumbling in the ranks.