Lithuanian Annual Strategic Review

Military could perform different roles in a state. In democracies civilian control and supervise of the military leaves it acting in the defense areas mostly. In military juntas, the military is involved in a state governing, but usually does not intervene other spheres of social life. The extreme of military influence and domination is a military state phenomenon. Here the military not only leads the governing but also transferes its values, culture and philosophy to the entire state. There have been military states in the past but what we see today in a majority of cases are military juntas. Russia under Putin rule is different. The military here is becoming a leading pover, a provider of ideas and a realizer of tasks. It is loved and admired by Russian elites and is spreading own culture and values to all society. Some time ago, Russian experts analyzing a process of military infiltration into administrative and political areas of statehood named this as a militocracy. Now militocracy is expanding, the military organization is penetrating country’s leadership minds and hearts and moving the entire state to a status where social, cultural and economical and other spheres of life become dominated by military with the military mindset prevailing. The military values and institutional characteristics become dominative as well. The state become almost a military state. This situation became possible due to Russian military organization remaining a Prussian military type creature with specific philosophy, values, working culture, etc. To succed in domination and secure achievements, the military organization worked out an entire system of programs and actions allowing not only regaining a power but strenghen own positions. Next to a physical infiltration of the military personnel into other social groups, those actions also include designing and applying a military “Modus of Operandi” in the state governing, spreading military mindset, culture, values to the nation and participating in a creation new Russian elites.