Gen. Nikolay Makarov, chief of the general staff, said that more than 160,000 officers will be released from the service or removed from the reserves in the next three years.
Photo: Vasily Deryugin
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Chief of General Staff in Duma Comm.
Gen. Nikolay Makarov, chief of the general staff, appeared before a full meeting of the State Duma Defense Committee yesterday to describe “the creation of a new look for the army.” Most of his report was devoted to upcoming staff reductions at the Defense Ministry under the military reforms begun by Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov.
According to Makarov, more than 160,000 officers will be released from the service or removed from the reserves in the next three years. Ensigns and midshipmen will not disappear immediately, but will be eliminated in the course of several years. Ensigns schools will be closed immediately and the ensigns and midshipmen will be allowed to serve out their contracts. There are 140,000 ensigns and midshipmen in the Russian Army and Navy.
The legislators were most concerned about the fate of the officers who will be laid off. Makarov assured them that they will be found employment and housing under a program that will come into effect on January 1, 2009. Talks on the program are underway with the heads of Krasnoyarsk Territory, Novosibirsk and Kursk Regions, Tatarstan and Bashkortostan.
Those present at the hearing described it as “depressing.” Only 17 percent of military units are battle-ready. The remainder of them are fully equipped but not fully staffed. “Reform is not only necessary, without it we will lose the armed forces,” commented Viktor Ozerov, chairman of the Federation Committee on Defense and Security.
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All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 14, 2008
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