With it's comeback from the economic and political deluge of the 1990's, it's return to an authoritarian government and increasingly aggressive foreign policy, many see Russia's resurgence as a player on the world's stage with concern, and, in case of several Eastern European countries, dread. However, Russia's comeback has unstable foundations, and may prove to be temporary.
Indeed, the Russian Federation finds itself facing a problem the country never had to face before: a dwindling population. Historically, Russia has always relied on it's massive territory and limitless manpower to assert it's strategic interests, but the data shows that the tried and true tactic of relying on numbers is no longer feasible.
From a population of 146 million in 1991, it declined to 144 million in 2016. Worse still, it is an increasingly older population, and although Russia has been able to stabilize it's population numbers and even restore some growth, this inevitably affects it's military capabilities.
It remains to be seen if the Red Army is able to adapt to this. A viable alternative to it's historical reliance on numbers would be to follow it's Western rivals and adopt a high tech, quality over quantity approach. But is the Russian Federation able to pay the staggering cost for such changes while at the same time supporting it's struggling economy?
Time will tell.
