From the report of Major General Anatoly SHATALOV, Head of the Press Service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation-Press Secretary of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation

The Minister of Defense and other top military leaders note that in the conditions of unprecedented engagement and dependence on the wallets of many Russian media outlets, the information structures of the Armed Forces remained loyal and reliable assistants to the command in solving the tasks facing the army and navy. Experiencing excessive financial and material difficulties, they did not deviate from the planned course, carrying out their activities in line with state policy, showing loyalty to the constitutional and military duty.

Last year, the Press Service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation identified the following priority areas in its work.

First. Creation of a qualitatively new system of information bodies of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

Second. Creation of an appropriate regulatory framework to enable effective and high-quality performance of the responsibilities assigned to this system.

The third. Selection, training and placement of highly professional personnel in combination with their training in the basics of information work.

Fourth. Creating a material, technical and financial basis for the successful functioning of the information structure itself.

And finally, the fifth. Develop and implement measures to increase the credibility, importance, relevance and relevance of our work.

Today we can say that the conditions for the effective work of the information structures of the Armed Forces were created thanks to the initiative, patience, constant efforts of the Press Service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, each participant of this gathering, and the personal daily support of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, Marshal of the Russian Federation ' Igor Dmitrievich Sergeev. It is an obvious and indisputable fact: we have managed to lay solid foundations for a qualitatively new system of information bodies of the Armed Forces.

Today, our central newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda is also noticeably increasing its readership rating, and this is largely due to the arrival of its new editor-in-chief. Circulation of the magazines "Orientir" and "Warrior of Russia" remains at a high level. The management of the Central TV and Radio Studio of the Ministry of Defense has a lot of creative ideas and practical developments. The Center for the Dissemination of Information and the Department of War Correspondents, created under the Press Service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, have become more active and, most importantly, more effective.

Information structures in the military underwent a significant reorganization. Since the beginning of the year, the press centers of the branches of the Armed Forces, Airborne Forces, districts, and fleets have been transformed into press services, and their leaders have been given the status of assistant commanders-in-chief (commanders). At the same time, the staff size of the press services of military districts was increased, and the position of deputy head of the press service was introduced.

Press services have been formed in the rear of the Armed Forces and CSKA. In a number of associations of the North Caucasus Military District and the Navy, in the formations of the Airborne Forces, the Moscow, Leningrad, Volga and Ural military districts, the positions of assistant commanders for public relations and mass media were introduced, and in republican, regional and regional military commissariats, the positions of public relations and mass media officers were introduced.

Summarizing the above, we can draw two conclusions.

The first. A specialized service designed primarily for public relations has been created. Civilian journalists received specific "addresses" of specific officials and, accordingly, the opportunity to promptly contact the competent representatives of the military department on all issues of interest.

Second. The creation of a single coherent structure of the information bodies of the Armed Forces fits perfectly into the idea expressed by the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation about a two-tier management system as the most effective.

Today we can confidently say that the press services have started to work better. This should be noted and noted without any stretch of the imagination. First of all, this applies to the press service of the Air Force (Chief-Colonel Drobyshevsky Alexander Vladimirovich), which skillfully organizes information support for the creation of a new type of air Force and air defense - the Russian Air Force, and successfully organized the work of journalists during the joint exercise of the CIS states "Combat Commonwealth-98".

Competent and confident interaction was provided with the Press Service of the President of the Russian Federation, the press services of the Navy and the Northern Fleet (captains of the 2nd rank Dygalo Igor Viktorovich, Anufriev Sergey Anatolyevich) to provide information support for the participation of the President of the Russian Federation in the exercise of the Northern Fleet forces in August 1998..

The press service of the Moscow Military District (Chief-Colonel Igor Petrishchev) actively and skillfully uses a wide arsenal of proven forms and methods of working with Russian and foreign journalists.

Largely due to the high professionalism and initiative of the press service of the Moscow district, it is possible to quickly satisfy the interest of correspondents of numerous mass media on many issues of the daily life of subordinate troops.

The press services of the Far Eastern, Leningrad and Trans-Baikal military districts have also proven themselves well.

Our analysis of the work of the editorial offices of district and navy newspapers allows us to say that these publications quickly acquaint readers with the ongoing changes in the Armed Forces, formations and units of the district, and the fleet. The main focus is on the problems of reforming the army and navy, reflecting the practical work on their implementation, the role of the human factor in this process.

The following newspapers of the Volga, North Caucasus, Leningrad, and Far Eastern military districts were very successful in addressing these issues in 1998: Soldier of the Fatherland, Military Bulletin of the South of Russia, On Guard of the Motherland, and Suvorov Onslaught.

Today we publish 13 district and naval newspapers, 2 group newspapers, 2 flotilla newspapers, 4 newspapers of naval bases and naval districts. There are still 17 "divisions".

To this official structure, we can also add the public plan structures that we managed to "launch". This is primarily the Coordination Council for Information Support for the Reform of the Armed Forces, within the framework of which a plan for speeches by senior staff was developed, as well as the press club of military observers of the central media under the Press Service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

The press service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation was the first among the relevant structures of law enforcement agencies to open its "page" in the global information network "Internet"in 1998.

However, creating and developing a structure is one thing. The other and most important thing is to direct its creative and organizational efforts to solving the main task-information support for the reform of the Armed Forces. This topic has become a priority for our media, for all our information structures. We have always tried to be creative and interested in providing the public with complete and reliable information about the Armed Forces. At the same time, we actively helped the top military leadership, both in the center and in the field, to convey the public's reaction to certain decisions of the military department, and made suggestions aimed at creating a favorable information situation for us.

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