Leading Russian military expert Vitaly Shlykov spoke during one of the sessions of the Valdai Discussion Club last week about the sweeping reform of the country's armed forces, which begins in December and will cut the number of tanks from 20,000 to 2,000 and reduce the number or reservists to just 100,000.The reform, which Shlykov described as nothing short of a revolution, will significantly affect the Kremlin's approach to the composition of and future cuts to the country's military arsenal.
Shlykov, who heads the Security Policy Commission of the Defense Ministry's Public Council, is a former deputy minister of defense and a retired colonel of the GRU military intelligence service.