Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov, a key ally of President Vladimir Putin, scored a vital win Friday in his faltering bid to reform the military when parliament handed him operational control of the army.
The defence ministry and the general chiefs of staff - whose imposing headquarters face each other across a road a stone's throw from the Kremlin - had been battling over the past decade for control of military operations and army financing.
Under pressure from Putin, who named Ivanov as Russia's first civilian defence minister in March 2001, the State Duma lower house of parliament agreed Friday to delete most of the responsibilities of the chiefs of staff.
It struck out a line in the federal legislation that the joint chiefs of staff "represent the main organ of the operational command of the armed forces of the Russian Federation."
This duty - including oversight of Russian training exercises, field operations and domestic base inspections - will now lie with Ivanov's ministry.
Media reports said that the chiefs of staff that have been headed by General Anatoly Kvashnin since before Putin became president early in 2000 will now be in charge of drafting the planning stages of potential military operations.
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