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History of the Russian military
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Modern Russian military ranks trace their roots to Table of Ranks established by Peter the Great. Most of the rank names were borrowed from existing German/Prussian, French, English, Dutch, and Polish ranks upon the formation of Russian regular army in late 1600s.

Muscovy

The rulers of the Kievan Rus entities had no standing army besides permanent group of personal guards, druzhina (дружи'на); members of the unit were called druzhinnik (дружи'нник). In case of emergency, a militia was raised from volunteers from the peasantry, and the druzhina served as the core of the troops. The local knyaz served as the military leader of the troops. Thus there were no need in permanent ranks or positions and they were created randomly, based on the task(s) in hand.

Upon the formation of Strelets troops, the low-level commanding officers were appointed to one of the following ranks:

• strelets (стреле́ц), a basic soldier;
• desyatnik (деся́тник, 'of ten men'), acting as sergeant/corporal;
• sotnik (со́тник, 'of hundred men'), acting as captain.

These were not personal ranks and were retained only as long as the officer held the position. For battles, the troops were organized unto temporary high-level units, usually polk (полк, Old Slavonic for group of troops), a regiment commanded by golova (голова́, head) or voyevoda (воево́да); these commanding positions were not permanent and did not sustain after the battle. The cossack cavalry units had their own ranks of Kazak (коза́к), yesaul (есау́л) and ataman (атама́н); they were not comparable to the strelets ranks.

Upon the formation of standing regiments (prikaz, later polk), new ranks were inserted in between of the existing grades: pyatidesyatnik (пятидеся́тник, of fifty men) acting as lieutenant, golova acting as colonel of the regiment (also, tysyatskiy (ты́сяцкий, 'of thousand men'). Later, a polugolova (полуголова́) rank was introduced; eventually golova was renamed polkovnik (полко́вник, regimental commander), and polugolova was renamed podpolkovnik (sub-polkovnik). As usual, voyevoda was simply a commander of a large military group and not a rank of any kind.

At the same time, the companies of foreign mercenaries were formed; these incorporated foreign ranks of Lieutenant and Rittmeister. They were later changed into New Regiments of the Streltsy Troops and more Western ranks were adopted, including General. Finally, by 1680 the ranks of the New Regiments were unified with Strelets Troops.

Russian Empire

During the beginning of 1700s, military ranks were frequently changed by the tzar during efforts to reform the army and create a strong Navy. These many changes were routinely documented into Army's Rules of Engagement since 1716, until they were finally incorporated into the first variant of Table of Ranks in 1722. Comparing to Strelets Troops, a few more non-commissioned ranks were added, the soldier rank was replaced with many speciality ranks and a few more General ranks were added. The naval ranks were created from scratch.

The officers were styled according to their rank as defined by the Table.

1722-1917

By 1722, the ranks of both enlisted staff and commissioned/non-commissioned officers were somewhat settled; these ranks survived until the Russian Revolution with only minor adjustements.

Captain-Poruchik rank is comparable to Lieutenant Captain. Note that Poruchik can sometimes be styled as Porutchik, as it was originally written by the tsar.

commissioned officers of artillery, engineers enjoyed a handicap of 1 grade, and the Leib Guard enjoyed a handicap of 2 grades.

In the 1798-1884 timeline, the General ranks were streamlined and a Brigadier was abolished. The Captain-Poruchik rank was reestablished again, this time as Stabbs-Captain. Courious Second Major and Premier Major ranks were united. In 1826, Russian Army adopted shoulder insignia and distinct Cossack cavalry ranks.

In 1884, a Major and Captain-Lieutenant ranks were abolished again and the ranks below were shifted several grades up. The latter was not reintroduced until 1907, but then again abolished in 1911.

RSFSR and Soviet Union

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2008)

1917-1935

The October Revolution of 1917 abolished the privileges of the Russian nobility (Dvoryanstvo). The Table of Ranks was abolished and so were personal military ranks. The army and the navy returned to a system of positional ranks that were acronyms of the full position names. For example, komdiv was an acronym of Division Commander; likewise kombat stood for Battalion Commander, etc. These acronyms have survived as informal position names to the present day.

1935-1943

Personal ranks were not reintroduced until 1935, and General ranks were restored in May 1940. The new ranks were based on the military ranks of the Russian Empire, although they underwent some modifications; modified Imperial rank insignia were reintroduced in 1943.

1943-1991

In the 1970s, the non-commissioned officers serving under contract and holding Starshina (Master Sergeant) rank were reassigned to newly-created Praporshchik rank (not to be confused with similarly named Russian Empire rank of commissioned officers); starshina was reserved for conscripts only.

The table of Soviet military ranks can see in Military ranks of the Soviet Union or in the section below (as they were the same as present military ranks of the Russian Federation).

Russian Federation

The independent Russia inherited the ranks of the Soviet Union, although the insignia and uniforms were altered a little. The following is a table ranks of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

Russian armed forces have two styles of ranks: deck ranks (navy style ranks) and all-forces ranks (army and other forces style ranks). The following table of Ranks is based on those of the Russian Federation.

All-forces ranks are used by:

• Ground Forces
• Air Force
• Strategic Missile Troops (Independent Corps)
• Airborne Troops (Independent Corps)
• Military Space Troops (Independent Corps)
• Naval Infantry (Marine Corps) and other various shore services of the navy
• Militsiya, Internal Troops - under Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD)
• Federal Security Service (FSB), Border Guard service of the FSB
• Civil Defense Troops, Fire Rescue Service - under Ministry of Civil Defense And Emergency Situations

Deck (Navy) ranks are used by:

• Navy (Except Naval Infantry and other shore services)
• Maritime Guard of the Border Service of FSB

The highest all-forces rank is Marshal of the Russian Federation.

The highest Navy 'deck' rank is Admiral of the Fleet.

Ranks can have additional descriptors according to assignment or status. For example, the rank of a serviceman of a "Guards" unit, formation or ship may be followed by the word "Guards" ("Gefreitor of Guards"); the rank of a serviceman of the legal, medical or veterinary professions is followed by "of Justice", "of the Medical service", or "of the Veterinary service" ("Captain of the Medical Service"); and the rank of a reserve or retired serviceman is followed by the words “Reserve” or “Retired,” respectively ("Major of Reserve"). The Russian Federation abolished the descriptor "of Aviation" for pilots, however, that descriptor is still in common use.

Notes

1. There is currently no serving officer of the rank of Marshal of the Russian Federation. The only person (thus far) to hold this rank was the late Igor Sergeyev, former Minister of Defence, who was elevated from the General of the Army of the Strategic Rocket Forces
2. Admiral of the Fleet of the Russian Federation sometimes appears in rank charts as a highest deck rank but no such rank has ever existed, and its inclusion in such charts is probably the result of falsely assuming that it was introduced to supplant Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union. This rank was only held by three persons in the entire history of the Soviet Navy.

See also

• Comparative military ranks
• Military ranks of the Soviet Union
• Russian military
• Russia

External links

• Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD)
• Federal Security Service (FSB)
• Border Guard service of the FSB.
• Ministry of Civil Defense And Emergency Situations.
• Federal Law No. 58-FZ from March 12, 1998 "On military duty and military service" (in Russian)
• Presidential Decree No. 531 from May 8, 2005 "On military uniform, rank insignia of the servicemen and state bodies' rank insignia" (in Russian)

• Military of Imperial Russia
• Military of the Soviet Union
• Russian military ranks