Who owns Odnoklassniki and VKontakte. Who is the current owner of Odnoklassniki?

The Odnoklassniki social network today is perhaps one of the most popular in the whole world. It originally emerged as a website for school graduates and others educational institutions. Her goal was to help people find those with whom they studied together.

An analogue of such a network already existed on the Internet. This is the Classmates website. However, residents of Russia and Ukraine could not communicate there.

After the birth of the “Wait for Me” program, which searches for people who, due to various circumstances, have lost contact with family and friends, the country faced another problem. After all, citizens began to come to the program more and more often with a request to find their colleagues, former graduates of various educational institutions. This distracted the presenters of the program from searching for those whom it is the work of a lifetime to find for family and friends.

Thus, the prerequisites for creation required the birth of a site where people could find and establish contact with former friends and fellow students, classmates and classmates.

And such a site finally appeared in 2006! Very soon he firmly occupied one of the first places on the Internet. But who created the Odnoklassniki website remains a mystery to many. Some users claim that the network closely cooperates with the FSB and was created on its orders. However, this is far from the case!

The project to create this social network belongs to a native of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, who by the will of fate found himself outside of Russia, Albert Popkov. It becomes clear to everyone who comes to this site that whoever created Odnoklassniki did not set himself the goal of helping federal services, but was simply tormented by nostalgia.

After all, the Odnoklassniki registration system assumes that anyone who wants can tell “all the ins and outs” about themselves, while others register under a fictitious nickname. Providing correct complete user information for registration is not required at all. No one sets themselves the task of checking the reality of the data that a user publishes online.

The one who created Odnoklassniki shares with the site’s users: “Today the site cooperates with but only because scammers of various types and levels have appeared on the Internet, and maniacal pedophiles often go “hunting” to find their victims "

Albert has an interesting destiny. He is also called a millionaire who came out of a slum. And this is the true truth! Therefore, it is worth talking about this in more detail.

So, on the 26th of September 2012, the “father” of Odnoklassniki celebrated his fortieth birthday. The year of his birth is 1972.

At the age of nine, the boy and his family moved to Moscow from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Who hasn't heard about these difficult eighties? How many people they broke, how many lives they ruined!

The Popkovs were not spared difficulties either. The family was sorely short of money, so fourteen-year-old Albert decides to go to work. After all, the picture is constantly before your eyes: a tired mother, exhausted from two jobs, constant shortages of one thing or another...

But the teenager only managed to work at the Moscow pencil factory as a board dryer for the production of pencils. The work took a lot of energy and time from the teenager, so Albert did not have time to study well.

And in the tenth grade it became clear: the young man would not be allowed to take the exams for absences. It's funny, but the one who created Odnoklassniki in the twenty-first century and became a millionaire thanks to this, in the early nineties was an uninteresting lagging student.

Why didn’t anyone recognize the young man’s talents? This fact remains in question. But nevertheless, already at the age of sixteen Popkov became a programmer.

Seven years of work at the Research Institute of Computer Engineering gave Albert Popkov the opportunity to become a junior employee. But in the 90s, it was unrealistic to exist on an engineer’s salary in Moscow. Therefore, Albert had to leave the research institute and become a temporary supplier, he even traded at the market in Luzhniki.

But still, he did not abandon his programming studies, making remarkable progress in this area. Thanks to his perseverance and talent, Popkov received an invitation to London in 2000, where he participated in the creation of two large help systems Great Britain and a large-scale social network in Spain and Germany.

And in 2006, Popkov created everyone’s favorite website “Odnoklassniki” with his personal money. The stunning success of the social network interrupts Albert's career in England. He returns to Moscow and completely immerses himself in work on Odnoklassniki.

But today, the one who created Odnoklassniki suddenly decides to leave his brainchild. He begins work on a new project - the Sravni.ru website. This new project It is planned as a service for selecting insurance and banking services.

I think today already most The population has heard about the amazing “loud” project that has won the hearts of millions of people - the Odnoklassniki project. Let's figure out a little where it all began and gradually consider the splendor that is shown to us now.

As far as the audience knows, the project was launched on March 4, 2006, and its author was Russian web developer Albert Mikhailovich Popkov. It was he who wrote the first website of everyone’s favorite “classmates”

Odnoklassniki history of origin and development

If you believe the Wikipedia source, until the summer of 2007 the portal worked on what Albert wrote “on his knees.” And only in 2007 a change was made technology platform.

Initially, Odnoklassniki was launched as a multilingual social network that allows you to quickly and comfortably search for classmates, classmates, former graduates, as well as family and close relatives for further communication.

In November 2006, the site already had 1.5 million users.

2007

2009

2010

More than 45 million users are registered on the Odnoklassniki social network. According to TNS WebIndex, 56% of the audience is made up of users aged 25-44 years. The share of managers and specialists is 19% and 28%, respectively. At the beginning of April, games appeared on the site in beta testing, developed by i-Jet.

— August 31 the network has canceled user registration fees.
— December 24 users of the Odnoklassniki social network had the opportunity to test the beta version of the video chat.

2011

— April 7 It became possible to divide friends into groups.
— May 31 the network has introduced unified authorization, with which its users will be able to use their login and password to authorize on third-party sites.
— June 1 The network administration launched in beta testing mode new section“Music”, where users can play and download MP3 files.
— July 5 the social network allowed users to “link” to account up to three bank cards.
— September 19 the social network began indexing videos from YouTube.
— September 27 A new top panel “Odnoklassniki” has become available to users. It contains links to various projects of the Mail.RuGroup company.

2012

— April 26 the number of registered accounts reached 135 million.
— May 30 there was an opportunity to take advantage paid services with zero balance. The next time you top up your balance, the amount that was borrowed is withdrawn from your account.
— June 29 it became possible to download compositions officially provided by copyright holders.
— October 30 the head of the social network Ilya Shirokov at the “Mail.RuGroupUpdate” conference announced the launch of Internet radio within the site.
— October 31 users were provided free opportunity change the page design to your liking, choosing from 39 provided themes.

2013

— January 1 the number registered was about 205 million; More than 420 million gifts were given - that's 6 times more than last year.
— February 14 Odnoklassniki reached 40 million users per day.
— February 16 It became possible to create polls in groups.
— March 25 the site became available in Armenian.
— April 4 Access to the site was closed to all users due to technical problems. Since April 5, the site has been working, but with glitches: many services are unavailable. Since April 7, the site has been fully restored
— April 30 a “vote” button has appeared, available in groups for photo competitions.
— June 14 the site became available in Tajik. According to LiveInternet, the number of visitors to Odnoklassniki from Tajikistan per month is 500 thousand people, of which more than 20% access the site through mobile devices. According to official reports, the Tajik language has become the last language in the CIS. on which the Odnoklassniki website will officially be released.
— June 25 the site has created a version for the visually impaired and people with disabilities.
— July 3 the site entered the Top 10 global social networks.
— July 4 the site became available in English.
— October 8 It became possible to search for friends by date of birth.
— October 22 there is an edit function own comments.
— October 30 The Odnoklassniki application for WindowsPhone has been updated.
— November 8 icons appeared instead of ratings.
— November 15 appeared new service"Delayed posting". Also on this day the “Help” section was updated.
— November 28 updated home page social network, it now features a poster for the film “Odnoklassniki.ru: CLICK your luck.”
— December 3 instead of icons, ratings appeared again.
— December 12 An online cinema was launched in the “Video” section.

2014

The data is not fictitious and is collected exclusively from the official source Wikipedia.

Albert Popkov is a web developer, two-time winner of the award “For Contribution to the Development of the Internet.” Albert began working as a programmer at the age of 16, but due to the low cost of such devices, he worked part-time as a seller of various products.
Since 1995, Popkov began collaborating with foreign companies and developing websites in accordance with specific orders. The young specialist’s work was appreciated, and soon Albert received several advantageous offers. From a full-time programmer, he first becomes the director of the development department, and then opens his own company.

Launch of Odnoklassniki

In 2006, Albert Popkov created a layout for the Odnoklassniki website, and a year later the resource began working on a completely new platform. It was from this moment that the site gained mass popularity and received the first prize in the same year. The project topped the ratings of the largest Russian social networks.

On the Odnoklassniki website it is prohibited to post links to the pages of its main competitor, the VKontakte network.

The idea of ​​the site was borrowed by Albert Popkov from European resources. Similar projects have been popular abroad for quite a long time. In Russia the situation was the opposite. Odnoklassniki was new on the network and instantly attracted the attention of many active users.

It is noteworthy that initially the project was not taken seriously by its creator. It was a so-called hobby. However, during the first year, the number of visitors to the resource increased rapidly, so there was a need to expand it to a larger audience. Initially, Odnoklassniki was paid, but this at the moment cancelled. Pages are created.

In 2008, a high-profile trial took place. Albert Popkov had to defend his rights to social network"Classmates".

Owners of the resource

In 2006, when the question of selling the Odnoklassniki website or promoting it independently was being decided, Albert Popkov began collaborating with Baltic investors. Thanks to significant investments, the site has noticeably changed its interface and gained expanded functionality.

Initially, Odnoklassniki had four owners - a little 30% of the company belonged to Albert Popkov, the same amount to his wife, 18% each were owned by Digital Sky Technologies and Ou Tobias. In 2008, the situation changed; control over the network is exercised not by the developer and his wife, but by foreign companies, which now own 58% of the resource.

Pavel Durov, the creator of the VKontakte website, is known to everyone today. Many people also know Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of the popular social network Facebook. Do you know who created the Odnoklassniki social network? If not, you'll find out now. After all, it’s about Albert Popkov and we'll talk in our article today.

Albert Mikhailovich was born in 1972, in the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Three years after his birth, the family moved to the capital of Russia - Moscow. When Albert Popkov turned sixteen, he entered a technical school, but at the same time worked as a programmer.

It is clear that Albert was very interested in the computer field. Albert Popkov developed various software for Soviet needs and created various websites for American companies. Interestingly, Albert was not an excellent student at school, and after graduation he even sold batteries. However, very soon he realized that trading was not his field, after which he took up his most favorite activity - programming.

It was during that period when Albert Popkov had not yet left his previous office, but had not yet started working in a more large company, he created his own social network “Odnoklassniki”. In the end, our hero received a high position, but then he already understood that the Odnoklassniki project was very promising. Therefore, a very serious choice had to be made: work and career in a new large company or promotion of the Odnoklassniki website. In 2006, Albert quit and founded his own company. My own money was already running out, but in the same year I became acquainted with a Baltic company, the business entered a new phase: the technology platform was changed, new talented people appeared. The creator of "" felt that the project was beginning to develop rapidly.

And so, already in 2007, the Odnoklassniki website became a two-time winner of the prestigious award “For Contribution to the Development of the Runet.” In December of the same year, almost mass madness began. Many people in the Russian Internet segment realized that this was something new and interesting, that the Odnoklassniki website could help find long-forgotten friends from school and beyond. At this time, the website is very quickly and confidently entering the top ten most visited web resources.

In 2008, a whole judicial scandal broke out. It was connected with the fact that the creator of Odnoklassniki simultaneously worked for one of the British companies (i-CD Publishing) and worked on his Odnoklassniki website. Thus, the employment contract that was concluded was violated. No matter how funny it may be, the British employer argued that Albert Popkov was obliged to give away his entire business and all the profits made. Naturally, it is unlikely that this British company will ever realize its plans.

The US Armed Forces have approached today's aggravation of the international situation fully armed - with a set of the most advanced concepts of warfare, with experienced command personnel, with fundamentally improved management methods. Is the Russian army the complete opposite?

These are the conclusions of military expert Vladimir Denisov. In his article published in Novaya Gazeta, he gives comparative analysis construction and development of the two leading armies of the world - American and Russian. Military science in our country has been ruined, the expert believes, there are no new ideas and concepts. Western experience is unreasonably ignored. The generals are preparing for the last war. In a hypothetical clash between the “wise” American army and the “unwise Russian”, the latter can be rescued either by a miracle, or by some gamer with innovative ideas and an unconventional approach to warfare. Such “analytical” calculations can cause alarmist sentiments among part of our society. But is it really so?

Loss of strength

In the early 90s, the Russian army found itself in a difficult situation. There has been a radical turn in strategic guidelines. Many previous ideas about the goals, means and methods of defending the country were overthrown, and a number of them were recognized as erroneous key principles ensuring its security, the previous provisions on the direction and nature of military development were discarded. New Russia set a course for rapprochement with the West. Former adversaries suddenly turned into allies or partners, and former allies became either potential enemies or neutral countries. The state leadership made unprecedented concessions, including agreeing to completely curtail its military presence in Eastern Europe.

The sharply narrowed economic base did not allow the state to maintain a multimillion-dollar army, timely update its technical arsenal, develop and produce modern types of weapons and military equipment on the same scale, and accumulate the necessary mobilization reserves. In fact, it was necessary to create new Armed Forces, but there was no political will and material resources for this, and the country was in deep socio-economic decline. As a result, after the decision was made to create the RF Armed Forces, military reform was reduced to a reduction in troops and forces without carrying out their qualitative transformation.

The beginning of the 90s was characterized by a series of armed conflicts in the territory former USSR. To stop them, to stop the bloodshed, Russian military personnel were faced with the need to solve peacekeeping tasks in Tajikistan, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Transnistria. And despite the rather “difficult” state of the Armed Forces, these tasks were successfully completed.

In a difficult military-political situation, a counter-terrorist operation was carried out in the North Caucasus. The Armed Forces, intended to repel external aggression, were forced, together with other security forces, to conduct combat operations with bandit formations on their territory. I had to relearn on the fly. Today, no one doubts that at that time Russia faced not isolated groups of ideological separatists, but a well-organized and generously paid from abroad terrorist attack on our country.

Based on the results of the CTO, conclusions were drawn. Firstly, the Armed Forces must be prepared in advance for the fight against terrorist groups, and secondly, terrorism must be fought proactively, not waiting for it to come to our home. These findings were taken into account when deciding to conduct an operation in Syria.

One-man theater

The United States at this time was developing its armed forces in the most favorable conditions since the end of World War II. The military development was based on the conclusions drawn from the confrontation between the international coalition and Iraq in 1991. Let us recall that it was characterized by deep envelopment of enemy positions, delivery of the main strike bypassing defensive lines, and most importantly, a sharp increase in the contribution of the Air Force to the success of combat operations.

The conflict of a new generation was the NATO war against Yugoslavia, the goals of which were achieved without the active involvement of ground forces.

The main efforts in the construction of the American Armed Forces were focused on mastering the forms and methods of conducting non-contact wars. It was believed that the task of defeating the enemy would be accomplished by missile strikes and aviation, and the task of the ground forces would only be to consolidate the success achieved.

The training of the US Armed Forces was aimed at mastering a new generation of wars - rebel wars, proxy wars (proxy wars), hybrid wars, counterinsurgency wars. Their implementation made it possible to replace unwanted governments by force if this problem could not be solved by a “color revolution.” Such wars do not require the deployment of large groups of troops (forces). Sufficiently trained special operations forces and effective fire support.

The US Armed Forces began to rapidly introduce information technology into troop command and control, mastering hybrid methods of warfare and network-centric approaches to leadership. In this regard, competition between branches of the armed forces has intensified for their role and place in modern operations and, most importantly, for the amount of funding.

The development of new concepts of combat operations was put on stream. In the development of each main interspecific doctrine, concepts of the second level (specific), then the third (comprehensive support) were developed. For each, programs for their implementation were prepared and resources were allocated. The process was avalanche-like. America could afford such a wasteful approach.

This period is characterized by complete freedom of action for the United States, although their allies were also allowed something. The global leadership of the United States resulted in a kind of status quo, in which the West essentially had a monopoly on the use of military force on the world stage. America is now without regard to Soviet Union replaced unwanted governments and started wars. This is what happened in Yugoslavia, Iraq, this is what should have happened in Syria.

Our country did not adequately respond to NATO aggression against Yugoslavia. But Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov's turn over the Atlantic was a clear signal to the West that we have our own national interests.

Realizing this and sensing the growing power of Russia, seeing it as a geopolitical competitor to the West, the United States finally abandoned peace-loving rhetoric, openly declared itself the winner in the Cold War and took the path of direct confrontation.

Reforms to please the enemy

The acceleration of reform in the Armed Forces was facilitated by the operation carried out in August 2008 to force Georgia to peace. It became obvious that our strength would continue to be tested. Therefore it was necessary to as soon as possible reorient the RF Armed Forces (which to a certain extent represented a smaller copy of the army and navy of the USSR) to prepare for the conduct of local wars and armed conflicts of a limited scale.

By December 1, 2009, under the leadership of Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and Chief of the General Staff Nikolai Makarov, the Russian Armed Forces were rapidly brought to a new look. There was not a single area of ​​military development, the life of the army and navy, which would not have undergone the most radical reform. The number of armed forces (up to a million people) and officers was reduced (from 335 to 150 thousand), instead of the previous six military districts, four “large” ones were created, which are interspecific associations, the structure of formations and associations, military command bodies was changed, the personnel training system was rebuilt and maintenance of reserve formations, armed forces infrastructure.

The peculiarity of the reform was the speed of the measures carried out and the absence of reasonable, justified, calculated plans, which was passed off as a virtue. Military science was accused of being “unprincipled” and lacking the necessary theoretical developments to enable military development. Therefore, all transformations were carried out according to Western patterns; instead of thoughtful and well-founded concepts and plans, the basis for reform was based on the experience of building American armed forces without any comprehension and adaptation to domestic conditions. The historical experience and traditions of the Russian, Red and Soviet armies were fundamentally ignored. The imitation of the US Army reached the point of curiosity. Thus, the Americans formed brigades as units with a rigid organizational structure. Previously, their brigades, which were part of divisions, did not have permanent combat personnel. At the same time, the divisional management link was retained. We, having not fully studied the American experience, liquidated our divisions, formed brigades on their basis and switched to the battalion-brigade-army system.

The rotational principle of serving in operational and strategic headquarters was intensively introduced. Its essence was that every officer, after three years of service at headquarters, must be transferred to another position (command or teaching). The Americans, on the contrary, increased the period of service in the highest headquarters and, moreover, gave the heads of military command and control bodies the right to extend it for individual, most trained officers.

As a result of this approach to reform, even reasonable ideas without appropriate preliminary elaboration and support in practice were brought to the point of absurdity and brought harm instead of benefit. The transformation of all formations into forces of constant readiness led to the destruction of the system of training reserve formations, without which it is possible to conduct combat operations in a local war at most, but in a regional one it is no longer possible.

The central bodies of military command and staff were reduced, but at the same time the level of their competence and, as a consequence, the quality of troop leadership at all levels sharply decreased.

The lack of personnel did not allow formations and military units to carry out tasks as intended. The size of the officer corps did not correspond to the tasks facing the Armed Forces.

Groupings in strategic and operational directions could not act independently. They demanded reinforcement of combat and logistical support units. Significant sections of the state border turned out to be uncovered by troops (forces).

The military education system was brought to a critical state. A powerful blow has been dealt to military science. The creation of the Aerospace Defense Forces did not lead to an increase in the efficiency of solving air defense problems. The level of combat effectiveness of air bases, which were formed instead of air regiments and divisions, decreased significantly.

The measures taken by reformers during 2010–2011 to debug new systems and military command and control bodies did not produce results.

The situation with equipping the army and navy with weapons and military equipment was especially bad. Suffice it to say that by 2012, the level of serviceable equipment in the troops was no more than 47 percent.

In general, large-scale and radical transformations carried out in a short time led to a significant reduction in the combat capabilities of the Armed Forces.

New vector

In 2012 she joined the military department new team under the leadership of the Minister of Defense, Army General Sergei Shoigu, and the Chief of the General Staff, then Colonel General Valery Gerasimov. My main task They saw it as stopping the destructive processes in the Armed Forces, preserving those individual positive results of bringing them to a new look, restoring combat effectiveness and increasing combat capabilities. At the same time, there was a strict time limit due to the growing aggravation of the international situation.

The reform was based on clear planning of activities, strict control, rational use available resources in the interests of the country's defense. The development and delivery of each unit of arms and military equipment to the troops was strictly linked to the training of relevant personnel, the construction of storage facilities and living quarters for the personnel who would operate it.

First of all, self-sufficient interspecific groupings of troops (forces) were formed in the military districts. Their improvement was carried out through the balanced development of types and branches of troops of the Armed Forces, increasing the level of equipment with modern weapons and military equipment.

Today, the basis of troop groupings in strategic directions are permanent readiness formations. Taking into account operational expediency, some of the combined arms brigades were transformed into divisions. Note that in terms of its combat capabilities, a division is 1.6–1.8 times superior to a brigade.

A transition has been made to a new system of recruiting military personnel under contract for formations and military units of the Ground Forces, Marine Corps and Airborne Forces. In 2012, the battalions included in their composition were formed in a mixed way - by conscript and contract servicemen, and the share of contract soldiers was no more than 30-40 percent. To prepare such battalions for combat operations, considerable time was required for coordination. In addition, conscripted military personnel were subject to legal restrictions on their participation in hostilities.

Currently, the opposite picture is observed: in each regiment and brigade of three battalions, two are staffed by contract soldiers and only one by conscripts. On the basis of battalions staffed only by contract soldiers, reinforced tactical units have been created in combined arms brigades and regiments - battalion tactical groups (BTG), which can be used in the shortest possible time and without additional coordination. In a number of cases, they were transferred to the operational subordination of commands in tactical directions. This made it possible, if necessary, to move away from rigid organizational structures, create groupings depending on the situation and the tasks being solved, increase the efficiency of management and ensure flexibility of use.

Particular attention was paid to the development of high-precision weapons. Full-fledged groups of cruise missile carriers were formed on a planned basis long range various types bases capable of using weapons against targets at distances of up to four thousand kilometers.

In order to ensure efficiency and continuity of fire impact on the enemy, reconnaissance and strike systems and reconnaissance and fire complexes were created. In essence, this is the introduction of network-centric control methods, which are based on the integration of reconnaissance information and information control systems with weapons systems. The result was a reduction in the time parameters of the cycle for solving a fire mission - from target detection to its destruction. The increasing effectiveness of fire impact was largely facilitated by the increasingly widespread use of unmanned aerial vehicles.

Particular attention was paid to the development of electronic warfare, improving means of countering high-precision weapons, as well as the aircraft control system. A unified automated system control of troops and weapons at the tactical level.

Taking into account the improvement of air-space systems, including the progressive spread of missile technologies, the vector for the development of the country's aerospace defense was set. Great value In this regard, the creation of the VKS was important.

The system of mobilization deployment and mob training was improved. Decisions were made to create a mobile reserve, territorial troops, and organize the preparation of government bodies at all levels for functioning in wartime.

Requirements for the training of headquarters and troops (forces) were increased. When training military command authorities great attention focused on developing the ability of commanders and commanders to take quick and comprehensively justified actions. Acceptance skills were strengthened non-standard solutions, forecasting the development of the situation, the willingness to take justifiable risks was encouraged. Suvorov's principles of command and control, combat operations, and approaches to troop training were purposefully introduced.

Due attention was paid to the study of new generation wars, including hybrid ones, which were already in full swing Western countries against unwanted states and governments. In this regard, the example of Libya is particularly clear.

The readiness of command and control bodies and troops (forces) to operate as part of interspecific groupings created in strategic directions was tested at annual exercises. Their scale testified to the development of issues of repelling large-scale aggression and combating a high-tech enemy.

During operational and combat training activities, issues of conducting military operations in the form of strategic operations, army operations in a war against regular armed forces, as well as combat operations against terrorist groups were worked out.

And at headquarters and scientific institutions, intense work was going on to analyze the essence of modern wars. The formula “war is a complex of military, as well as political, diplomatic, economic, information measures" has acquired a new meaning. Military measures faded into the background, giving way to non-military means. Commanders and staffs had to urgently master and practice practical skills in the use of non-military methods. And soon it was needed.

Syrian experience

First there was Crimea. Well-equipped and highly trained Special Operations Forces ensured security and order on the peninsula and prevented the destabilization of the situation by fascist nationalists and its development according to the Odessa version.

The Russian army appeared before the world from a completely different perspective and caused sincere surprise among Western experts. It turned out that she can act firmly and politely, quickly and decisively, secretly and effectively, and solve strategic problems with small forces. Previously, in the West it was believed that only “exceptional races” were capable of this.

The next exam was Syria. The Russian Armed Forces are faced with a completely new type of conflict. His main feature was that the states that were opponents of Syria carried out secretive, inconspicuous actions against it, without being drawn into a direct armed conflict. Well-trained and equipped military formations of terrorists and the Syrian opposition, whose actions were coordinated from abroad, were used as manpower.

Russia entered Syria when it, as a state, stood on the edge of the abyss. I came in completely legitimately, at the invitation of the legitimate government of the country. In the shortest possible time, she deployed a minimal group in a remote theater of operations and reversed the war. It acted with utmost efficiency, both in terms of the ratio of the results achieved to the resources expended, and in comparison with the effectiveness of the International Anti-Terrorism Coalition, led by the United States. Under the leadership of Russian military advisers and with the support of the Russian Aerospace Forces, the Syrian army liberated most of its territory.

The world saw a completely different - a renewed Russian army, which is capable of effectively conducting combat operations in a remote theater of operations with small forces, delicately delivering strikes with high-precision weapons, optimally combining the actions of the Aerospace Forces, Navy and Special Operations Forces.

High efficiency of fire destruction of terrorist targets was achieved through network-centric control methods, competent use of reconnaissance and strike systems and reconnaissance and fire complexes. The bulk of fire missions to defeat the enemy were carried out by artillery and aviation. Precision weapons were used to destroy the most important terrorist targets. It is clear that firing missiles at every group of militants is a very costly business.

During the special operation, virtually all formation commanders and formation commanders of the Armed Forces gained combat experience. Staff teams of formations and formations also passed through Syria, developing invaluable skills in planning and directing combat operations of troops and fire defeat of the enemy. Now commanders and commanders personally know what is needed in war, what and how to teach personnel.

Most tasks, primarily combat ones, were solved in special conditions, unconventional, creative. In addition, the tasks themselves differed significantly in content: combat, humanitarian, peacekeeping and military-diplomatic. The command of the group of the Russian Armed Forces and military advisers to the Syrian troops used a lot original ways and methods of conducting combat operations, joint use of various types of weapons and military equipment.

The Syrian operation gave vivid examples manifestations of military cunning, audacity, unpredictability in actions, swiftness in the offensive and steadfastness in defense, flexibility in planning and at the same time hard time maintaining the strategic line.

American view of the Russian Armed Forces

The Americans closely monitored the actions of the Russian Armed Forces in Syria. Through the success of the Russian army they saw their problems. The main drawback of the American armed forces, according to their experts, is that they were not prepared to fight a strong enemy. Since the end cold war combat training was aimed mainly at counterinsurgency. The US Armed Forces have forgotten how to fight a strong army and conduct large-scale combat operations. According to American experts, their armed forces need to adapt to modern threats. To achieve this, the training of command and control bodies, troops and forces must be urgently reoriented and carried out taking into account strengths Russian army.

US military experts noted the strength of the Russian Armed Forces new system views on the conduct of modern wars, providing for flexibility in determining the purposes of using the RF Armed Forces, rational forms and methods of action depending on the tasks and conditions of the situation.

Another strength of the Russian army is the ability to create and train formations and associations of the regular army from the local population, as well as to use irregular formations and formations of local residents (people's militia) to achieve goals.

The Americans highly appreciated the ability of Russian advisers to organize and conduct combat operations with flexible formations of Syrian troops - combined battalion tactical groups. Their composition is determined based on the assigned task, which makes it possible to more fully realize the combat capabilities of the troops (forces).

The effectiveness of the fire destruction system, including reconnaissance, target designation and destruction means (primarily operational-tactical aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces), as well as the widespread use of UAVs, which makes it possible to effectively control the battlefield, timely detect enemy targets and promptly destroy them, are emphasized.

Has been analyzed very carefully Russian system Air defense deployed in Syria. Western experts called the strength of the Russian Armed Forces their ability to prevent the use of American aviation due to the ability to deploy effective air defense at the strategic, operational and tactical levels. Moreover, according to their estimates, efficient system Electronic warfare is capable of completely disorganizing the command and control system of the US Armed Forces at the operational and tactical levels. The presence of experienced and capable command staff of the Russian Army was especially noted.

The presence of strengths in the RF Armed Forces somewhat discouraged US specialists. And there were reasons for this.

Firstly, the development of the US Armed Forces has always been carried out in accordance with the principle of superiority over any potential enemy in all elements: in equipping with weapons, in training personnel, in control systems, communications and reconnaissance, fire destruction, logistics, etc. Secondly, the American armed forces have always fought under the dominance of their aviation. And the fact that the strong air defense of the Russian Armed Forces is able to “ground” US operational-tactical aviation puts Pentagon specialists at a dead end regarding the methods of conducting combat operations by ground groups without air support. The Americans' recognition of the superiority of the Russian Armed Forces in certain elements destroys their faith in their own capabilities.

The received assessments and conclusions prompted the headquarters of the US Armed Forces to search for new forms and methods of action of troops on the battlefield, allowing to nullify the superiority of the Russian Armed Forces even in individual elements, and to accelerate their implementation in the training of command and control agencies and troops of the American army. New concepts for the use of troop groups were developed.

By the way, the Americans' penchant for developing concepts has become their real bane. Each newly released strategic-level concept required the development of three to five subordinate concepts, in development of which concepts of more than low level. Financial resources are allocated for each, fortunately, the astronomical military budget (more than $700 billion) allows it. Therefore, the pipeline for developing new concepts never stops. Each concept with a truly American scope is presented as another “breakthrough in military affairs.” For example, specialists of the US Armed Forces declared the inclusion in it of such a component as operational art a great success in the development of military science. But it must be said that in the USSR such a division was introduced back in the pre-war period (before the Great Patriotic War): strategy covered issues of preparing the country and the Armed Forces for war and waging war in general, operational art - preparing and conducting operations, and tactics - conducting combat actions by tactical formations.

At the same time, we must pay tribute to the flexibility and efficiency of the Americans in responding to the growth in the combat capabilities of the Russian Armed Forces. Indeed, even in peacetime, the strategic management bodies of rival countries (general staffs/command staff, headquarters of the armed forces) conduct an intellectual confrontation between themselves that is invisible to the average person.

For example, according to the concept of interservice operations, the United States conducted military operations according to the following scheme. First, strikes from high-precision sea- and air-based weapons, without entering the enemy’s fire zone, destroyed its air defense system in the theater of military operations. Further, aviation carried out strikes on targets with impunity. And only then (in Yugoslavia it did not come to this) the ground forces entered the battle.

Taking into account the views of the Americans, Russia created special security zones in the Crimea and the Baltic, concentrating in them high-tech weapons, air defense, electronic warfare and others. The appropriate organizational events Exercises were held to form such zones. In addition, the Navy’s strikes with high-precision weapons from the Caspian Sea on targets in Syria have convincingly shown that it will be impossible for the ships and aircraft carriers of the potential aggressor’s high-precision weapons to approach our shores with impunity; they will all end up in the affected area.

That is, previous approaches to conducting military operations turned out to be unsuitable. The Americans immediately tensed up and released a new concept - multi-domain operations of ground forces. According to it, the main role should now be given not to the Air Force and Navy, but to the ground forces. It is they who break into the territory where air defense and air defense systems are located, crush them and thereby provide the Air Force and Navy with the opportunity to operate in a given theater of war, and also create conditions for the transfer and deployment of the main forces to the theater of war.

This is precisely the scenario envisaged for the Kaliningrad special region. This is why the question arises about the additional deployment of US ground forces in Poland and the Baltic states. Perhaps in the future the question will arise about the use of Ukrainian territory.

Contours of a future war

The experience gained during the special operation in Syria has been analyzed. Military science played a special role in this. Its representatives were often at the forefront of combat operations with terrorists, working at the headquarters of military groups and in areas where new weapons and military equipment were used. Based on the results of the analysis, military command and control bodies and troops (forces) carried out scientific and practical conferences, methodological manuals have been developed. New forms and methods of combat operations and the use of new weapons and military equipment have been introduced into combat training. Personnel work has been restructured. Priority in promotion is given to officers with combat experience. Changes have been made to the programs of military educational institutions of the Ministry of Defense. This was facilitated by the fact that most of the teachers underwent combat training.

And finally, taking into account the experience gained and trends in the development of armed struggle, all combat manuals and manuals have been revised. They reflect modern views on the conduct of highly maneuverable combat operations. The Syrian experience, due to its specificity, has not been elevated to an absolute, but everything valuable from it has been taken into service. Thus, today we have a modern, confident army and navy with experienced command staff and updated governing documents.

The combat experience gained in Syria works to increase the combat power of the Armed Forces. In the current conditions, this task remains a priority due to the uncertainty of the international situation.

What type of conflict can be imposed on us, what shape will the military threat take? There is no clear, unambiguous answer to this question. In any case, we must proceed from the fact that a potential enemy will strive to put our troops in a difficult position, use methods of action that are unexpected for us, impose his will, and seize the initiative.

The General Staff looks ahead, tries to determine the contours of a future war and develop promising forms and methods of action in it. And no innovators or gamers will do this work for him. There are things that cannot be learned without practical experience.

Although there have been examples in military history when the advice of non-military experts regarding the conduct of combat operations was accepted by the leadership. So, during World War II, the Americans and the British brought in a group of experts. They gave the following recommendations. To reduce the combat effectiveness of the Wehrmacht, it is necessary to launch massive attacks not on the troops, but on the civilian population. This greatly demoralizes Hitler's army. And these recommendations were accepted by the US and British bomber aviation for guidance and implemented in the form of carpet bombing of German cities in the rear zone.

Issues of military development, training of the army and navy, and equipping them with modern weapons are under the constant control of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the RF Armed Forces. They are regularly discussed at Security Council meetings. Twice a year, under the leadership of the President of Russia, meetings are held with the leadership of the Ministry of Defense and the defense industry. Heads of key enterprises and leading designers are invited to the meetings. This format of meetings helps to increase the responsibility of defense industry leaders for equipping the army with modern weapons and military equipment, and makes it possible to prevent the dictates of industry in imposing unpromising weapons on the army and navy. This platform has proven its effectiveness to such an extent that the heads of some states are thinking about introducing a similar format of meetings.

Concluding a brief analysis of the development of the RF Armed Forces, it can be noted that today Russia has every reason to be proud of its Armed Forces. Returning to the conclusions of Vladimir Denisov, we note: their reliability largely depends on the objectivity of the expert. In this case, there is definitely a biased approach that takes into account not all the information, but only that part of it that corresponds to the beliefs of the author of the article. That is, a private, subjective opinion is presented as a statement: “This is exactly how serious people in uniform think.”

It is well known that the interpretation of the same events can be different depending on the angle from which they are observed. Therefore, we considered it necessary, without imposing our opinion, to acquaint the reader with important facts for understanding that were not taken into account by the author of the article.

The final conclusions are left to the reader.