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Russia to Cut 15,500 Border Servicemen, 30,000 Air Force Men
The Russian Federal Border Service (FBS) will reduce its troops by 15,500 people and the Russian Air Force by 30,000 servicemen in the next five years as part of the country's military reforms, the Itar-Tass news agency reported Wednesday.
The number of Russian border troops will be cut down from the current 200,000 to 184,500 in 2001-2005. The reduction will first concern the service's fleet "that will be practically cut by half, " Colonel-General Konstantin Totsky, the FSB director, was quoted as saying.
He said border guards will be reduced mainly in northwestern Russia, in particular on the border with Norway and Finland. A slight reduction will be done on the Chinese border.
"At present, more than 70 percent of the FBS fleet is standing idle. The reduction will only concern those units that are ineffective and cost much," Totsky said.
The planned reduction will make it possible to save about 1.5 billion rubles (US$53.6 million) a year, he said.
On Tuesday, Russian Air Force Commander-in-Chief Army General Anatoly Kornukov said that the Air Force personnel will be cut by over 30,000 servicemen in this period.
"First of all, we will reduce the administrative structures and, partially, the training units, while combat units will be mostly preserved," Kornukov told the press in Krasnogorsk, the Moscow region.
"We will dismiss servicemen whose service period has expired, who have health restrictions or do not fit by their moral and professional qualities," the general said.
The redundant servicemen will be given social assistance. "We will take special care of dismissed servicemen who do not have housing. The housing will be given to them in the first turn," he said.
Russia's Security Council, the federal top security agency, decided on November 9 to cut down 600,000 servicemen of the national armed forces and the country's strong power structures within five years.
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