Colonel-General Georgy S. Oleynik was born on January 29, 1944. He graduated from the Yaroslavl Military School in 1965. Military Faculty at the Moscow Financial Institute in 1976. He served as head of the financial allowance of a battalion, military hospital, regiment, head of the financial service of a division, air defense corps, army, head of the financial Department of the Central Asian and Volga military districts, Deputy head of the Military Academy of Economics, Finance and Law for academic and scientific work, head of the military Financial and Economic Faculty at the Financial Academy under the Government of the Russian Federation. Candidate of Economic Sciences.

Since October 1996-Head of the Main Department of the Military Budget and Financing of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

Previously, in our society, it was somehow not customary to talk about money. And in the army, they were generally treated quite calmly. Everyone knew that the "day of the red officer" (the so-called salary day) would come, and everyone would receive a monetary allowance according to their position, rank and seniority. They knew that there was enough money to feed the family and send something to the elderly. But other times have come, and it turned out that they do not like money, and they may not be enough even for the most necessary things. And officers ' families learned what it means to live "below the subsistence level."

The head of the Main Department of the Military Budget and Financing of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Colonel-General Georgy OLEYNIK, tells about what is being done today to improve the financial situation of military personnel, successfully solve issues of financing and maintenance of the army, as well as who and how ensures the targeted and rational use of the allocated funds.

- Georgy Semyonovich, today the concepts of "military budget" and "defense appropriations" are included in almost every military team. The abbreviation GUVBiF also does not raise any questions. However, few, even among the highest officers, have a substantive idea of what the Main Directorate of Military Budget and Financing is doing.

- The Main Directorate of the Military Budget and Financing of the Ministry of Defense was established by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation by directive of the Minister of Defense and the Chief of the General Staff. Glavk ensures high-quality execution of estimates of the Ministry of Defense in compliance with the principle of strictly targeted and rational use of funds. GUVBiF constantly monitors the organization of all financial flows in the Ministry of Defense, develops a program to reduce budget expenditures and save money, organizes monitoring of planned activities, and actively participates in interaction with interested main and central departments in creating an economic knowledge system in the Ministry of Defense.

- Please explain, to the best of your ability, the structure of the Main Directorate entrusted to you and the main tasks of the GUVBiF, as well as similar subordinate bodies. How much have these tasks changed in comparison with the times of the CFU (as the department was then called) of the Soviet period and similar management in tsarist Russia?

- The structure of GUVBiF is based on the purpose of this organization and the tasks it performs. It allows you to solve them in any situation.

The Main Department has standard structural divisions, just like in any other central body. These are departments and departments with a clearly defined range of tasks and responsibilities. They organize the management of the financial and economic service of the Armed Forces, carry out consolidated financial planning and financing, regulate the activities of unitary enterprises of the Ministry of Defense, organize economic work, make payments for centralized deliveries of weapons, military equipment and property to the troops, ensure the formation of accounting policies in the Ministry of Defense and manage accounting and reporting, develop and implement pay allowances for military personnel and their pension provision, carry out financial control in capital construction and solve other important tasks to ensure the safety of military personnel.

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vital functions of the army and navy. On these issues, the GUVBiF coordinates the actions of all military command bodies and interacts with the highest state authorities.

These functions are inherent in the financial and economic service at all levels, although to varying degrees.

If we consider these functions in historical terms, then the goals of the central institution (military order) created under Peter I for the financial support of the troops were limited only to supplying money to military personnel, maintaining baggage trains and horses, and ensuring the housing and economic needs of the military.

Today, the tasks of GUWBiF are constantly expanding and becoming more complex. This is primarily due to the development of market relations, the implementation of economic and military reforms.

By the way, another indication of the growing role and influence of the financial and economic service on the daily activities of the troops is the change in the position of the military financier in the regimental level: now he is not just a treasurer, but an assistant to the regimental commander for financial and economic work.

- Georgy Semyonovich, a year ago in your interview to our magazine you spoke about the underfunding of the army in the period from 1993 to 1999. What was the situation with the financing of the army last year? What is the situation now? Has anything changed?

- The military budget for 1999 was fulfilled by 93.0 percent. This figure is significantly higher than in previous years. The military budget of 2000 is significantly better, but it is also extremely tight. The Ministry of Defense has been granted undervalued amounts of funding for a number of items of expenditure, including military salaries, salaries of civilian personnel, and utility bills. Budget funds are allocated regularly to meet the limits approved by the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation.However, due to the insufficiency of these limits, the Ministry of Defense has been experiencing difficulties in ensuring its expenses over the past months: the debt to suppliers of products and services, the debt to personnel on social and compensation payments have not been reduced. At the same time, the Russian Ministry of Finance constantly reports on the fulfillment of its obligations to finance the Armed Forces.

- In 1998, the order of financing was changed: expenditures were planned not on the basis of declared needs, but "under the approved amounts of appropriations". What did this lead to in practice?

- In the Message of the President of the Russian Federation "On budget Policy in 1998", it was noted that limited financial resources and urgent changes in the budget sphere make it necessary, on the one hand, to define a limited range of priorities, and on the other - to reduce expenditures that are not priority and effective.

In this regard, starting with the preparation of the draft federal budget for 1998, the Government of the Russian Federation instructed the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation to send annually to recipients of federal budget funds data on the maximum amounts of budget financing by sections and divisions of the budget classification of the Russian Federation when developing projections of basic federal budget expenditures.

In turn, federal executive bodies (including the Ministry of Defense) submit to the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation the distribution of the specified maximum amounts of budget financing by indicators of functional and economic classification of expenditures of the budgets of the Russian Federation. In this regard, the concept of "budget application for financing from the federal budget", which took place before 1998, was replaced by the concept of "budget cost planning".

- Currently, work is underway to develop a draft federal budget for 2001. At a recent government meeting, Alexey Kudrin said that on the"power"

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"next year, 26.8% of all budget expenditures will be allocated against 29.2% allocated this year. How will such a reduction affect the financing of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation?

- In accordance with the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 271 of March 28, 2000 at the present time (as of July. - Ed.), work is underway to form a draft federal budget for 2001.

In accordance with the Fundamentals (Concept) of the State Policy of the Russian Federation on military construction approved by the President of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2005, the minimum required level of spending on national defense is 3.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). For 2001, GDP is projected at 6,800. 0 billion rubles, therefore, national defense expenditures should amount to 238.0 billion rubles.

However, the volume of federal budget expenditures (in terms of Russian Defense Ministry expenditures) as of 2001, they have not yet been finally settled.

In this regard, in our opinion, it would be premature to discuss in the press the problems of forming national defense expenditures for 2001.

- What will happen to the defense order? After all, in the past years, the Ministry of Defense was able to purchase only single samples?

- Unfortunately, there have been no significant changes in this area. At comparable prices, the amount allocated for this purpose in 2000 increased by only 13 per cent compared to 1999.

Until the state has additional opportunities to finance the national defense, there is no need to wait for radical changes in the field of equipping the Armed Forces with new types of weapons and military equipment.

For example, the level of funding for the technical equipment of the Armed Forces today is about 10-15 percent of their actual needs.

- As far as I know, GUVBiF has repeatedly submitted proposals to the Ministry of Finance on the implementation of guaranteed execution of military budget items. What has been achieved in this regard?

- The Budget Code (entered into force on January 1, 2000) establishes a single procedure for executing the federal budget in all areas of expenditure, which also applies to national defense expenditures.

Thus, Article 229 of the Budget Code of the Russian Federation stipulates that in the case of introduction of a reduction regime for budget expenditures, this reduction is carried out in the same proportion for all types of budget expenditures and all recipients of budget funds.

In our opinion, special legal mechanisms for protecting military budget items should not be invented. The issue is solved quite simply - the relevant federal authorities (which are responsible for the execution and control of budget execution) must ensure that the budget is executed strictly in accordance with the established procedure.

- Conducting a counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus requires considerable budget expenditures. As Mikhail Kasyanov stated in his speech, every month of the counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya costs us 2.5 billion rubles. Isn't the Chechen campaign draining the military budget, and therefore the army?

- Of course, the participation of the Armed Forces in the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus, like any war, any military conflict, required additional material and monetary costs. However, it should be noted that in the federal budget for 2000 for the Ministry of Defense, which bears the main burden on the implementation of the task and comprehensive provision of all troops (forces) However, these costs are not provided for in the Combined Group.

In addition to the limits approved by the Government of the Russian Federation, funds are allocated only for additional payments to personnel for participation in combat operations and for the payment of fuel and lubricants. Thus, funds were transferred to these payments for May on June 29 of the current year.

- In accordance with the Federal Law of May 27, 1996 "On the status of military personnel", it was planned to establish salaries for military personnel depending on the minimum wage. It is no secret, and the media has repeatedly written about it, that now even the salaries of some generals and admirals are below the average subsistence level. And what about junior officers? Can we expect any progress in resolving this issue?

- In 1999, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation implemented the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 72 of 1999 on increasing salaries for military positions of military personnel and salaries for military ranks.

The above - mentioned increase in salaries allowed to increase the monetary allowance of military personnel by an average of 1.6-1.7 times and bring the size of salaries of military personnel in accordance with the requirements of Article 12 of the Federal Law "On the Status of Military Personnel".

According to the Federal Law of June 19, 2000 "On the Minimum wage", which entered into force and amended Article 12 of the Federal Law "On the Status of Military Personnel", an increase in the salaries of military personnel does not depend on an increase in the minimum wage. Now the salaries of military personnel are increased by the Government of the Russian Federation in the terms that are provided for

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for federal government employees and similar procedures.

Considering that the increase in the salaries of military personnel in accordance with the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 72 of 1999 did not allow raising the social security of military personnel to the proper level, as well as the fact that the size of official salaries and allowances for the qualification category (class rank) of federal civil servants currently exceeds the size of The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, together with the concerned federal executive authorities, is developing, in accordance with the instructions of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, proposals to increase the monetary allowance of military personnel in the second half of 2000.

They consist in gradually bringing the size of salaries for military positions and salaries for military rank of military personnel in strict accordance with the size of official salaries and allowances for the qualification category (class rank) of federal government employees, which in turn will increase the military personnel's salary by 2 - 2.1 times.

- Georgy Semyonovich, we are currently working on transferring the Russian Defense Ministry to execute the federal budget through the federal Treasury. We have already learned from bitter experience and know that extra financial links are another opportunity to" twist " the funds going to their intended destination. Isn't the state and the Treasury going through the same "rake"again? And more. Isn't it possible that by executing the federal budget through the Treasury, the Armed Forces will be deprived of maneuvering financial resources in order to ensure the country's defense capability, as has happened before?

- Transfer to financing through the federal Treasury bodies of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation is regulated by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 477 of May 12, 1997.

From January 1, 2000, it was transferred to financing through the personal accounts of the Federal Treasury of the Main Directorate of the Military Budget and Financing of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, and from July 1, 2000-types of Armed Forces, military districts and Airborne Troops.

Under the new funding scheme, the allocated funds are brought to the troops (forces) in a strictly targeted order, in the context of the main sections and subsections of target items and types of expenditures, according to budget classification codes and within the approved funding limits.

In the course of working with the Federal Treasury, numerous problems were identified that make it difficult to finance military districts (fleets). Some of them are still unresolved.

The main one is the lack of a legislative framework for interaction between the Russian Defense Ministry and the Federal Treasury and the regulatory legal framework for financing the Armed Forces, which is expressed in the fact that the federal Treasury bodies use different software solutions and put forward different requirements for the design and submission of documents. There is no single coordinated procedure for information interaction between the structures of the Ministry of Defense and the Federal Treasury.

Another important problem is the lack of funds for carrying out work to ensure the transfer of the federal budget and accounting to treasury execution. In the lower levels of the financial and economic service, there is no elementary modern computing equipment, not to mention personal computers and their software.

The problem with financing structural divisions of the Russian Defense Ministry by enlarged budget classification items has not been resolved.

Under the new funding system, the Armed Forces are practically unable to redistribute the allocated funds. Maneuvering is possible only at the level of the Main Directorate of the Military Budget and Financing, and only at the stage of budget design and preparation of the allocation of budget commitment limits. The mechanism of targeted financing of army structures by the Federal Treasury requires serious debugging. Now, at the request of the Russian Ministry of Finance, we are forced to transfer funds to military districts for the payment of monetary allowances and wages, broken down by type of payments, that is, separately for official salaries, allowances, bonuses, etc., which is on the verge of absurdity. The same scheme applies to the financing of other expenditure items.

Analysis of work with the Main Directorate of the Federal Treasury and its structural divisions during the transfer of the Ministry of Defense to treasury execution of the federal budget showed that without a systematic solution to a set of issues, a full-scale transfer cannot be carried out in such a short time.

- The State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation considers the main conceptual approaches of the Government of the Russian Federation in carrying out tax reform. Will military benefits be canceled in this regard?

- At the beginning of June 2000, the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation considered the proposals of the Government of the Russian Federation on priority measures to reform the tax system and approved in the second reading the chapter of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation providing for the payment of personal income tax (income tax).

This chapter establishes a single tax rate on personal income in the amount of 13 percent for all categories of taxpayers, including military personnel, equated categories of individuals, military judges and prosecutor's employees.

In addition, the measures proposed by the Government of the Russian Federation to reform the tax system also provide for the abolition of such tax benefits for military personnel as exemption from land tax and taxes on the property of individuals.

At the same time, according to the Government of the Russian Federation, the refusal of existing tax benefits for military personnel should be carried out with monetary compensation ahead of them at the expense of the federal budget.

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