MOSCOW, February 6 (AVN) - A commission on social issues chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Valentina Matviyenko will hold a session on Wednesday to consider the Defence Ministry's proposals aimed at social protection of servicemen and their family members in the course of the Armed Forces reduction, a source in the Defence Ministry told the Military News Agency.
The ministry held a public opinion poll to study servicemen's attitude towards the military reform and found out that servicemen believe there is no reliable mechanism of social protection, the source said. The experience gained in earlier military reforms proves the same, as laid-off servicemen were not provided housing, and their retraining and employment was poor.
Many problems will get even more acute as a result of the forthcoming restructuring, the source claimed. The matters in question are professional servicemen's dissatisfaction with their allowance and other types of social welfare. Nevertheless, Defence Ministry officials are planning to announce on Wednesday that they will not insist on amendments to the federal law "Concerning the Status of Servicemen" that aim at adjustment of servicemen's allowances to the level of state employees, the source noted.
According to him, after the State Duma lower house of parliament passed the amendments on the first reading, Defence Ministry leaders were summoned to the Kremlin and told that the government will not have money for payment of increased allowances in the next two years and there was no sense to look further anyway.