According to him, the Russian Defense Ministry plans to call up 155,000 conscripts this spring.
"We are facing the same draft problems as before. Today, we can call up only 9.1 percent of draft-age men. In 2004, the number was 9.5 percent and in 1994 - 27 percent, the Colonel General pointed out.
Vasily Smirnov referred to the "quality" of the conscript personnel as "substandard." He said that the 2004 spring draft campaign revealed that 57 percent of the draft-age conscripts had health problems rendering them ineligible for service in constant combat readiness units as well as in other special purpose units; 44.6 percent neither worked nor studied, 2 percent were on police record, 2.5 percent were ex-convicts, and only 25 percent had secondary or incomplete higher education.
According to Commander of the Russian Defense Ministry's Chief Medical Department Lieutenant General Igor Bykov, annually about 70 percent of conscripts are exempt from draft for health reasons.
In addition, according to the Defense Ministry's statistics, some 17,000 eligible draftees are dodging military service. "We have sent appropriate materials with regard to 6,300 of those to prosecutors, with criminal probes launched against 420 men to date," Colonel General stressed.
He pointed out that there is evidence now of draft-age conscripts dodging both military and alternative civil service (ACS). "After the first 83 men were drafted for the alternative civil service in spring 2004, 32 of those soon started dodging work," Vasily Smirnov said.
According to him, 318 men were drafted for the alternative civil service in autumn 2004. 72 of them presently began neglecting their duties as well.
"186 men have filed applications for ACS in spring 2005," Colonel General said.
The Russian Defense Ministry plans that by January 1, 2008 half of the country's armed forces will be manned with contract servicemen.
