Russian Army

Very few of the well-publicized problems with the Russian armed forces affect the garrison at Baikonur. They are well led, regularly paid, and always housed and fed. The garrison knows this, and has a uniformly high morale, bolstered by the fact that they know that General Evanov will send them home for a severe disciplinary information.

The few hundred soldiers and support staff of the Russian Army at Baikonur are woefully insufficient to maintain a base that was intended to serve a full mechanized division. The remaining soldiers have consolidated their operations into a small area of the original base, and have allowed the remainder to fall into disrepair.

The combat potential of the Russian Army garrison here is quite strong. The basic unit, a Private, is normally armed with nothing stronger than a pistol, since ammunition supplies are often irregular. Their supervisors, the Sergeants, do carry assault rifles and are happy to instruct the Privates in their use.

The significant force in the Russian Army at Baikonur is their Heavy Weaponeer. This is a specialist equipped with a light man-portable machine gun. These specialists are accurate and well-trained, often able to precisely damage adjacent targets.