Russia: October 1, 2004

Archives

The Defense Ministry admitted that the conscription system had collapsed, with fewer than ten percent of eligible young men showing up for military service. The decline is not as dramatic as it sounds, ten years ago only 30 percent of those eligible were taken into the armed forces. About half the troops in the armed forces are conscripts, the rest are volunteers. Russia wants to put more money into troop pay, so the entire force can be volunteer, and conscription can be put aside for national emergencies. The government plans to increase defense spending by over 30 percent next year. 

X

ad

Help keep us a float!

Your support helps us keep our ship a float. We appreciate anyway you chose to help out. Visit us daily, subscribe, donate, and tell your friends.

You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  2. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
  3. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on X.
Subscribe   Contribute   Close