MOSCOW. Aug 3 (Interfax) - The Russian Defense Ministry has contracted 231,000 personnel since January 1 this year, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said.
"Data from our Defense Ministry shows more than 231,000 people in total were admitted under contract between January 1 and August 3, i.e. today," Medvedev said at a meeting on further equipping the Russian Armed Forces on Thursday.
The task remains to make military service under contract as prestigious as possible, he said. "To that end, organizational, economic and social decisions and various technological ones have been made over the past few months. First of all, the eligibility system for contractual service has been successfully adapted to the conditions of the special military operation, it has yielded its results. Well, and no less important is that the social security of service personnel and their family members has been substantially raised," Medvedev said.
Contract soldiers get a lump sum payment, a loan payment break and have their civilian jobs protected while doing military service, "though one should still keep an eye on what is going on in that sphere," Medvedev said.
In addition, the pay gap between mobilized soldiers and contract soldiers has been closed, he said. "All of the country's constituent regions have established regional stimulating and compensatory payouts," Medvedev said.
A recording of a fragment of the meeting has been posted on Medvedev's Telegram account.