“At least four republics have said they will leave the command structure of the Soviet Army and form their own armies.”
“Nowadays it is not only misleading but also wrong to view Russia and the Soviet Union as one political entity… Districts like the Irkutsk regions of Siberia have adopted declarations of ‘equality and independence.’”
“In July 1990, Col. Gen. Nikolai Chervov announced that the Soviet Army had 41,580 tanks in Europe. With the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty signed in November 1990, there were hopes that a significant fraction of these tanks would be dismantled. Data released by the Soviets on 19 November 1990 indicate that there are now only 20,694 Soviet tanks in Europe. Where did all the other tanks go?
After stonewalling the newly aggressive Soviet press for two months regarding the mystery, the Ministry of Defense Information Administration finally offered to clarify the situation for the paper Sovetskaya Rossiya. Officials claimed that in excess of 20,000 tanks were moved beyond the Urals prior to signing the treaty document. About 8,000 tanks from Europe were handed over to Soviet units in Asia, either to bring them up to strength or to replace old tanks. A further 8,392 tanks were placed into storage bases in Western Siberia or Central Asia.”