The Russian army is in dire need of conscripts: the spring call can double and become a record for violations
According to the results of the autumn conscription, which ended on December 31 last year, only 135,8 thousands of recruits (this is a record number compared to other periods) went to serve in the ranks of the Russian army, while the service life of 240 thousands, called earlier, ended at the end of the year . In this regard, it is planned to “shave” about 2012 thousands of young people during the spring draft of 300.Today, a third of the rank and file posts are vacant in the Russian army. Moreover, in some parts the military personnel is understaffed by as much as 35%, this concerns the ground forces, the coastal troops of the Navy, and the troops of radiation, chemical and biological protection.
According to the General Staff, there are a million people in the Russian army serving 1. Of these, 220 thousands of officers and 200 thousands of contract employees work on a permanent basis. In the course of the autumn draft, the strength of the Armed Forces can dramatically decrease to 800 thousand people.
However, representatives of the General Staff reassured by the statements that at the moment an increase in the number of conscripts is not required. The Ministry of Defense has repeatedly indicated its position: it is necessary not to recruit conscripts, but to reduce them. Nevertheless, the Ministry of Defense recognized the fact that in some branches of the armed forces there really is a shortage of military personnel, but the figure, 30 percent, does not correspond to reality. In fact, the shortage problem is of the order of 10%. All this is connected primarily with the process of transferring the army to the contract system.
There is no consensus in the Committee on Defense regarding the mass character of the spring draft this year. Viktor Zavarzin, who is the deputy head of the Committee, completely rejected all the arguments about a possible short supply. Another representative of the committee, Aleksey Zhuravlev, said that a meeting of the Ministry of Defense would soon be held, where the plan for the spring draft will be considered. According to preliminary data, the number of recruits will be lower compared to last spring (the spring call of 2011 was 218,7 thousand people). The first meeting of the defense committee will take place on January 19.
Some human rights activists warn that the spring draft will be held with serious violations of Russian legislation: these are raids on young people who evade service, this is a biased medical examination or sending recruits unsuitable for health reasons. In addition, it is noted that those who were born in the middle of 90, when there was a decline in the birth rate in the country, are overstepping the line of majority.
According to Sergey Krivenko, coordinator of the public organization “Citizen and Army”, in the current situation, even the number in 150 of thousands of people is the limit. He notes that such unpopular measures as overstating the call plan or increasing the length of service can cause discontent among people. In addition, there are no active external threats to Russia, so it would be quite logical (this implies military reform) to bring the number of military personnel to 2017 in the year to 1 a million people mainly due to those who will serve on a contract basis. To achieve this goal, according to Krivenko, it is necessary to recruit an average of 40-50 thousand people. Valentina Melnikova, who heads the Union of Soldiers ’Mothers Committees, in turn, recommended the members of the Duma Defense Committee not to dream of“ fantastic conscription plans ”, but to take up her direct duties, that is, to provide for military reform with legislative documents. According to Melnikova, this will help to more effectively solve the problem of qualified personnel in the army.
An interesting fact is that as a result of the autumn call-up of 2011, the people of Dagestan practically did not call at all in Armenia at all. According to statistics, the entire 121 man was sent from this republic, with the majority of the draftees being persons of Slavic nationality. This is largely due to the difficult relationship that arises between Dagestanis and their colleagues in the army. In this regard, even a new term appeared - “Dagovshchina” along with “hazing”.
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