MOSCOW, March 12 (AVN) - The defence committee of the State Duma lower house of parliament is planning to hold parliamentary hearings on the logistics support of the Armed Forces on March 21, committee chairman Andrei Nikolayev said on Monday,
The level of logistics support financing is considerably less than it is required in all spheres of expenses every year, Nikolayev told the Military News Agency. Activities of the Armed Forces rear are also abundant in shortcomings. There have been cases of budget funds embezzlement, violations in organisation of tenders for materiel supplies and signing contracts, he said. The facts were confirmed by inspections of the Russian Auditing Chamber.
Duma members are hoping to get full information of the Armed Forces rear financing in 2000, to obtain data on this year's financing and solution of logistics support problems. They are also willing to find out what kind of legal assistance the Defence Ministry needs. The hearings are expected to deal with the general logistics support problems, as well as with those pertaining to each armed service.
The Duma invited heads of the rear's central bodies and those in charge of each armed service, officials of the Defence Ministry's main departments of military budget and financing and of housing operation, as well as military prosecutors to attend the hearings.