MOSCOW. Nov 11 (Interfax-AVN) - There are almost no thefts in the Belarussian Armed Forces, Belarussian Defense Minister Leonid Maltsev says.
"Our Armed Forces amount to 50,000 servicemen, but I can only state only 17 cases of theft, which have taken place this year, which is almost over," Maltsev said in an interview, published in the Nezavisimoye Voennoye Obozrenie weekly on Friday.
He emphasized that the problem of preventing thefts was being solved within the framework of the overall service organization system and as part of the overall struggle against offences. For instance, he said that the transition to new service organization principles would eliminate theft causes and possibilities for potential thieves.
"We are embracing a new servicemen food rations system, which will have no food storage facilities. And as there are no food storage facilities, there won't be anything to steal," Maltsev said.
He also stressed that imminent punishment still played an important part.
Maltsev pointed out that imminent punishment was of paramount importance to curbing hazing in the Belarussian Armed Forces. According to him, there still are separate cases of hazing, but they do not exceed several dozen or so.
For instance, he said that soldiers' arguing or disobeying orders of junior officers might result in their ending up in a disciplinary battalion, while a commissioned officer, attempting to conceal cases of hazing, might even find himself in the dock.