Beneath these military officials lies the top management of the Russian MOD. The pool of senior leaders given above comprises eight individuals who report directly to Minister of Defence and advice him on the matters in their purview. Thus, they share responsibility for the MOD's goals, missions, efforts.

Chief of the General Staff (CGS) is the second post within the Russian MOD and the first with the General Staff, Russian Defence Headquarters. CGS has primary responsibility for the Russian Armed Forces readiness and proper employment that's why he mast be a professional military to provide an effective command over the Armed Forces and act as a principal military advicer to Minister of Defence. CGS also bears responsibility for synergy of actions of all the armed formations disintegrated with the Armed Forces and a number of other functions. By the moment, this job has been carried out by Gen. of the Army Yuriy Balouyevskiy since July, 2004.

MOD State Secretary is an assistant to Minister of Defence on law matters. The duty of State Secretary in the Ministry of Defence is to supervize that the law abidance is ensured in all MOD initiatives and activities. The current State Secretary, Deputy Minister of Defence Gen. of the Army Nikolay Pankov is also entitled to supervise MOD and Armed Forces personnel policy.

Chiefs of MOD Services have primary responsibility for their respective fields of activity (arms acquisition, troops accomodation, logistics and procurement, MOD and Armed Forces budgeting).

Chief Executive of Minister's Office is in charge of Minister of Defence's personal staff of professional military and civilian assistants whos job is international defence matters, MOD public relations, financial control and MOD paperwork.

For details on the individuals who assume the top MOD offices click a respective link.