MOSCOW. Oct 3 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Armed Forces are currently staffed with 220,000 officers and some 200,000 contract servicemen, Vasily Smirnov, deputy head of the Russian General Staff, told reporters.
When asked whether the Russian army will have problems with staffing due to the sharp increase in the number of conscripts, Smirnov said the army will be fully staffed according to plan.
Russian Defense Ministry officials earlier said there are plans to increase the staff of the Russian army to 1 million people.
Smirnov said there are no plans to compensate for the reduction in the number of conscripts with foreign citizens.
"We are not going to solve the problem using foreign citizens," he said.
Smirnov recalled that over 100 foreign citizens currently serve in the Russian army in the position of privates.