MOSCOW. Nov 20 (Interfax-AVN) - The number of Russian Armed Forces servicemen without their own flats or needing improvement of housing conditions has grown 15 percent to 160,000 people in the past two years, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry's main political work department said on Tuesday.
The ministry will get a bit over 21,000 flats this year, the spokesman told Interfax-Military News Agency.
"Less than 1,000 flats will be provided to officers and warrants who continue their service. The rest will be given to servicemen who are about to retire or be transferred to the reserve," the spokesman stressed.
According to data obtained by Interfax-AVN, over 20,000 servicemen who have no own flats will be fired from military service this year. "Their firing without provision of flats is banned by Russian legislation," the spokesman stressed.
The data obtained by the Defense Ministry says that the number of servicemen in need of flats has increased in other law-enforcement agencies, such as the Interior Ministry, Federal Border Guard Service and Federal Agency of Government Communication and Information. Taking into account retired servicemen who have not yet received a personal apartment, Russia has almost 310,000 military families without flats.