Rebuilding Russia's Military

If you are friends with me on Facebook, you know that I have been following current events in Russia, particularly keying in on politics and military actions. Earlier this month, President Medvedev mad a statement that his administration was going to move forward with the modernization and privatization of the military. This comes after half a dozen or so flyovers of US war ships and territory by Russian Bear aircraft (old Cold War Bombers that pose no threat to American warships). While originally the thought about this statement of privatization and modernization was just a statement of promise, in essence, telling the Russian people that the government was not in trouble in the Financial Crisis, and that they could afford these upgrades. Yesterday there was an article about the building of 6 new nuclear submarines for the Russian navy, which was right on the heels of an article about how Russia has offered help in Afghanistan. This is basically what I have found thus far.

Obviously, a strong Russia is good for everyone, since they hold thousands of nukes. What these actions are implying is that the Russian government, under Putin and Medvedev, is seeking to strengthen its position in the world and reistablish the military might that it had achieved during the Soviet Era. I see a major problem with this. In their current system, soldiers are conscripted for a year (it used to be 2) and they are supposedly trained for combat. The reality of it is that the conscripts are usually beaten and basically enslaved by their older, more senior fellow soldiers. This has lead to dissertions and high rates of suicide in Russia among the 20-something age group. Not only is this going to be detrimental to the military should they need to call up trained soldiers, but this is also detrimental to the economy and the number of available workers. This is not something that I just made up. I have read about it in Kremlin Rising and also Culture Smart! Russia. While these are only 2 books, I have also talked with some Russians about this as well, and they have also confirmed this to me. With their population shrinking, or projected to shrink in the near future, I find it hard to believe that they can pull together a professional private military, and be able to protect the largest country in the world at the same time (1.8 times the size of the USA).
This is, however, a real effort, I believe, to get the Russian military moving again. During this summer's conflict in South Ossetia, it was demonstrated that the Russian military was lacking in the former power and strengh that it had once commanded. What should have taken only a few days to accomplish took them two or more weeks. I think that this illistrated to the Russian government that they need to revamp the military and make it a strong force again. By going into Afghanistan and helping the US there, I think that they might be interested in seeing US hardware in action, and maybe also tactics so that they can be adopted for their own military. It will also give them (Russia) a foothold in Afghanistan, like American wants as well. Just some thoughts that I had on the whole issue.