Soviets to Cut Military Budget by 8% in 1990

The Soviet Union said today it will slash military spending by more than 8% next year and gave the most detailed breakdown to date of its armed forces.

Col. Gen. Nikolai Chervov said at a news conference that the 8.2% cut, to $115 billion, is part of a program of shifting the Soviet armed forces from an offensive to a more defensive role.

The number of men in the armed force as of Jan. 1 will be 3,993,000, he said, without specifying what category of personnel the figure included.

“The new political thinking in defense doctrines allowed the military to reduce the budget in practical terms,” said Chervov, head of a general staff department.

It was the first time the complete armed forces budget had been given to foreign journalists before publication in the official Soviet press.

Military spending this year amounted to $129 billion, according to the first fully disclosed figures for defense expenditure, released in June.

The Soviet armed forces as of Jan. 1 will be equipped with 4,045 missile launchers of all kinds, 10,000 missile warheads, 63,900 tanks, 8,207 combat aircraft and 157 major surface ships, according to the breakdown.

Chervov said that offensive weapons are being reduced, that operational training is being revised and that most major military maneuvers have been cut.

Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev has already begun cutting the country’s armed forces in an attempt to lessen international tension and free much-needed funds to help modernize the outdated Soviet economy.

“We were guided by (Gorbachev’s policy of openness). The cuts are one way of building confidence,” Chervov said.

A year ago Gorbachev told the United Nations that 500,000 troops would be cut from the Soviet armed forces. Chervov said 256,000 of the half million men have already gone.