Russia does not yet have the funds for a full transition to a contract army, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov admitted, RIA Novosti reports. “Now we cannot afford to create a completely contract army,” the minister said.
“Believe it or not, it costs less than a good contract soldier. If you count, it’s huge expenses. The previous program didn’t work precisely because it was done formally. The military was told that it should be done.
At the same time, according to him, "it was quite clear that a contract soldier would not go to the army for seven thousand if he could earn at least 15 in civilian life." “We really could refuse rearmament and spend money on improving the service under the contract. But then we would have old equipment and weapons that do not meet modern requirements,” explained Serdyukov.
"We do not refuse to serve on a contract basis, but only reduce the number of such servicemen, - he added. - Up to 90-100 thousand. We will look further." “If we save money in other areas, we will definitely return to this idea. But already well prepared,” Serdyukov said.
Commenting on the situation in the field of combating violations of military discipline, the minister noted: “In absolute figures, there are more non-statutory cases. methods: we harshly ask commanders for this, up to and including dismissal for fatal cases. " "Here human rights activists began to reproach me already, that I shouldn't have fired many for this," added Serdyukov.
