The Russian Army, already struggling to cope with deep cutbacks, cannot afford to buy fuel for the coming winter and has already used up a third of its emergency reserves of oil, weapons and food, Defense Minister Pavel Grachev told a Russian cabinet meeting Thursday.


Grachev's appeal, a dramatic escalation of the armed forces' campaign for a larger slice of the budget, forced an order to the Finance Ministry to arrange within 24 hours for payment of all debts to the military.


According to Interfax, Grachev blamed the Finance Ministry for the crisis, saying that the government has only delivered 38 percent of the military's annual budget so far, leaving barely enough money to cover salaries. As a result, the armed forces had piled up a 600 billion ruble ($212 million) debt to their fuel suppliers, who were refusing to make further deliveries.


First Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Soskovets, who led the cabinet session, gave the Finance Ministry a 24-hour deadline in which to wipe out the government's debt. Soskovets said the money must be allocated at any cost, Interfax reported.


The Defense Ministry currently needs 150 billion rubles to prepare army barracks for the winter and 730 billion rubles to buy fuel. Even if the Finance Ministry comes up with its payments, the military still faces a chronic shortage of funds.


According to Grachev, the military has amassed a staggering debt of 3 trillion rubles .


"The military budget is insufficient," said Yelena Agapova, a Defense Ministry spokeswoman. "It is a well-known fact that the budget needs re-examination."


Grachev has lobbied the government long and hard to secure additional funding for the military, and has openly complained that his armed forces are on "starvation rations." The military this year received a 40.6 trillion ruble allotment, a modest increase over the 37 trillion rubles the government first proposed but far short of the 87 trillion requested.


The armed forces traditionally took up a massive portion of the budget in Soviet times, but with the need for such a vast military machine now in question its allocation has been subject to sweeping cuts.


The military says lack of funds has already crippled its ability to do everything from monitor its nuclear missiles to hold a parade.


This is a point of bitter humiliation to the army, which formerly enjoyed a unparalleled status in Russian society.


Last month, the director of Moscow's power grid cut electricity to the command post of the Strategic Rocket Force -- the station that monitors Russia's intercontinental ballistic missiles -- due to unpaid bills. Only a backup system allowed the army to keep track of its warheads.


And last week the Defense Ministry announced that it would not be able to mark next year's 50th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in customary high style.


Plans for a 150 billion ruble extravaganza have been scaled back to a modest 9 billion ruble festival.


These incidents come on the heels of reports that Russian soldiers returning from the Baltics and Germany are finding themselves homeless or living in tents.


The army's financial shortfall is real and could even cause military pilots to become a hazard to each other, said Charles Dick, a senior analyst of the Russian military at Sandhurst Military Academy in England.


Dick said NATO standards dictate that military jet pilots receive 150 hours of training annually to maintain standards. Budget cuts, however, have resulted in Russian pilots only getting 20 to 30 hours of training flight time a year.


"At that level of training they are a danger to themselves," Dick said, "and certainly no danger to the enemy."


As a result, military installations far beyond Moscow's reach have taken to cutting deals with local officials in order to earn money. Dick said the Omsk city council has a contract with its local military to sell tanks to North Ossetia and Yemen.


"There will be a lot of home-growing of food," Dick said, pointing to the unofficial economy that has recently sprung up in the absence of central funds.


"Mechanics will be maintaining vehicles in the civilian economy."