MOSCOW. Sept 24 (Interfax-AVN) - More than 200,000 people will be enlisted in the armed forces during Russia's autumn draft campaign, which is due to start on October 1, Armed Forces General Staff spokesman Maj. Gen. Andrei Kolesov told a roundtable on Tuesday.
"The number of people who will be enlisted this autumn will nearly double, as compared to the number during the spring draft campaign, and total 219,000," Kolesov said.
The spokesman also addressed what he described as "an extremely unfavorable demographic situation" in the country.
"Some 870,000 people were registered with military authorities in January-March [2008], as compared to nearly 1.2 million people in 2004. Our estimates show that the number of conscripts will continue to decline. It will drop to some 600,000 by 2016," Kolesov said.
"This situation will inevitably dent our possibilities to enlist citizens in the armed forces to man the army, fleet and other troops," the general said.
"It is quite possible that the state security bodies' demand for draftees will exceed the actual number of conscripts who can be enlisted in the armed forces by 2011," he said.