MOSCOW. Nov 21 (Interfax-AVN) - It will take at least 10 years to replace conscription with a contract-based military service in Russia, government sources told Interfax.
On Wednesday Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov submitted to President Vladimir Putin a report on a planned phased transition to a contract-based service.
A plan approved by Putin involves an experiment in which some military units would be fully composed of soldiers serving under contracts. The results and cost estimates would become the basis for mapping out phases for the introduction of a contract-based service.
The sources said the government is insisting on a phased abolition of conscription rather than drastically changing the current system.