MOSCOW. Oct 1 (Interfax-AVN) - More than 1,000 posts will be slashed at the Russian Armed Forces General Staff, the Vedomosti newspaper quoted an unnamed Defense Ministry officer as saying on Wednesday.
"The number of people [working at the General Staff's central operational office] is expected to be reduced from 500 to some 200, while the total number of job cuts will exceed 1,000," the newspaper reported.
The planned job reductions come as part of a directive issued by Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, it said.
"The minister's directive arrived several weeks ago, after the war in South Ossetia. But, according to the Defense Ministry's officer, [efforts] to draft it were launched earlier, when former General Staff chief Yury Baluyevsky was dismissed in May," the newspaper reported.