Putin Oks Plan on Russian Army's Transition to Professional Army

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, November 22, 2001

Putin Oks Plan on Russian Army's Transition to Professional Army

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday approved a plan on the Russian armed forces' gradual transition to a professional army.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday approved a plan on the Russian armed forces' gradual transition to a professional army.

Putin and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov on Wednesday discussed the issues of military reform. During their talks, Putin agreed with the government's document on measures connected with " a gradual transition to manning the armed forces on a contract basis instead of conscription," Putin's spokesman Alexei Gromov told the press here.

The document was worked out in accordance with a Russian Security Council decision adopted in November 2000, which called for reforming the country's military organization.

Kasyanov said the transition to volunteer military service should be gradual without radical changes in the system. The number of people serving in the army on a contractual basis will increase gradually every year.

At the same time, he stressed that the transition should be linked to the country's economic possibilities.

In order to assess the cost of reforms, an experiment will begin in several military units in the near future, which will be manned only with volunteers. The results of the experiment will provide the basis for further steps in reforming the armed forces.

Commenting on the results of the meeting between Putin and Kasyanov, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said that the transition to a professional army in Russia will take many years.

"I cannot say when this process will be finished. It will take hundreds of billion of rubles, the Defense Ministry plans to present concrete plans of transition in 2004," he told journalists.

He said the transition is a historically justified choice and there is no alternative. Only professional and compact armed forces can be able to counter all security threats to the country, he stressed.

Russia began to recruit servicemen for some armed force units on a contract basis in mid 1990s. Now a large number of people in the armed forces, about 70 percent of the total, serve under contracts.