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Russian Generals Defend Conscript Army to the Last

MOSCOW, Jan 31, 2002 -- (dpa) No longer in command of a superpower army in a global ideological struggle, Russia's generals now fight a far less glorious rearguard action on the homefront against plans to cut the military down to size.

The defense ministry has orders from President Vladimir Putin to trim the armed forces to one million men over the next three years. They now have 1.2 million personnel after cuts last year shed 100,000 men, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told the president Thursday.

Starting 2004, Ivanov's ministry is also expected to build a professional force in place of the oversized, ragged but cheaply maintained conscript-based army.

And dealing another stinging blow to the conservatively-minded military establishment, parliament looks ready to approve a law on alternative service in accordance with the country's Constitution, which permits civilian work instead of two years in uniform.

Liberal politicians predict that a reasonable alternative service bill could see up to 50 percent of potential draftees becoming available for work in hospitals and other social services.

It's a red rag to the proud bulls of the top brass, experts say.

"If the drafting system collapses and the army becomes fully voluntary, the military will no longer have a large reserve force and will no longer be able to mobilize a multimillion-man army," commented Russian defense analyst Pavel Felgenhauer.

"Most generals believe this would be a full and final departure from Soviet military traditions, an acknowledgement of second-tier status vis-a-vis the United States."

No-one in the military leadership is foolish enough to revolt openly against the changes. But some cunning arguments have appeared in favor of retaining a large army.

"Russia occupies a seventh of the world's land and covers a vast territory and an enormous length of borders," the chief of the General Staff, Anatoly Kvashnin, said in discussions of the reforms.

"But it has the least number of soldiers manning each kilometer of border - 16 instead of no less than 50 in other countries," he said, overlooking the fact that thousands of miles of Russia's remote Arctic coastline may be considered safe from aggression.

Other commanders like Georgy Shpak, the head of the airborne forces, say a war involving major clashes of tanks, armies and divisions is unlikely.

"But the likelihood of various operations like in Chechnya and Kosovo is now growing," he warned.

Careful not to stir up too much dissent in the ranks, Minister Ivanov has given repeated assurances that the reforms will not be rushed. He points out that in the United States a smooth transfer to a professional army took ten years.

Meanwhile, the hated conscription goes on, no doubt also to the vast relief of many state farm directors, since armies of conscripts are used to bring in the harvest each year.

Putin's predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, pledged in his 1996-reelection campaign to do away with the draft by 2000 in a clear bid to win votes.

Today, despite 150,000 professional soldiers serving under contract, the Russian army is still dependent on conscription. The Defense Ministry calls up some 400,000 youths annually to serve in notoriously brutal conditions. Tens of thousands more are drafted to the Interior Ministry forces and other paramilitary formations.

Soldiers mothers' organizations estimate that as many as 2,000 conscripts die a year as a result of accidents, beatings by older soldiers or suicide, while thousands more are killed and wounded in Chechnya.

Deputy prime minister Valentina Matviyenko this week said that alternative service when it becomes available will last three to four years - admittedly twice as long as military service, as is the practice in many countries, but it "should not be treated as punishment", she said.

Observers expect conditions for those who pass requirements for draft exemption - health problems, religious conviction, family circumstances - will be not dissimilar to those of prison inmates.

Kvashnin himself reportedly said he expects only 2,000 alternative service applications a year. And so the battle of Russia's bulging army goes on.

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