#13
Financial Times (UK)
2 April 2002
Russian army starts spring draft
By Robert Cottrell in Moscow

The Russian army began its annual spring conscription drive on Monday with the publication of a decree by President Vladimir Putin declaring 161,732 young Russian males liable to be rounded up for two years' service.

But for every eligible youth who ends up in the armed forces, several are likely to dodge the draft through educational deferments or medical exemptions, past figures suggest.

Komsomolskaya Pravda, a Russian tabloid newspaper, reported on Monday the going rate for a bogus medical certificate showing lung or stomach problems was $2,000-$5,000 (E2,265-E5,660, £3,225-£8,000) depending on the wealth of the youth and his family. A certificate diagnosing psychological problems could cost less than $1,000, the newspaper said, but it was liable to be challenged by an army doctor.

The cheapest certificates, costing $300 to $500, were for drug or alcohol addiction, also grounds for exemption, the newspaper said. But they were less popular because an official record of addiction could hurt the job prospects of the draft-dodger.

Army service remains so deeply unpopular in Russia because new conscripts are often bullied viciously by other soldiers and because they fear being sent to fight Russia's long-running civil war in Chechnya.

An opinion poll in February found only 22 per cent of Russians wanted to see a close relative serving in the army - an improvement on 1998, even so, when the figure was 13 per cent.

But 44 per cent named Chechnya as their reason, up from 30 per cent in 1998, when the civil war was going through a lull. Violence within the army came second as a reason for shunning military service. Poor living conditions came third.

Mr Putin has called for Russia to move from a conscripted to an all-professional army - as former president Boris Yeltsin did before him. But the army has long resisted this, claiming it would need a big rise in the military budget to dispense with conscripts. Mr Putin has pencilled in 2010 as his target date for completing the transition.

Meanwhile, the Russian parliament is considering a bill allowing young people to choose an alternative, civilian form of national service. However the defence ministry thinks youths who do not want to serve two years as soldiers should spend up to four years in other service.