PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY. Nov 26 (Interfax-AVN) - The Kamchatka troops group is planning to replace up to 60 percent of conscripts serving at some of its units and vessels in the course of the current draft, a spokesman for the group headquarters said on Monday.
"IL-76 planes have been arriving from the mainland three times a week for a while, delivering groups of 150 to 200 raw recruits. The planes are airlifting servicemen who are to be transferred to the reserve on their way back," the spokesman told Interfax-Military News Agency.
A spokesman for the group's manning department confirmed to Interfax-AVN that over 2,000 servicemen were waiting for a plane to Kamchatka on the mainland. The highest number of conscripts is concentrated in Khabarovsk and Novosibirsk, as the two cities are temporarily hosting almost 900 servicemen each.
The high replacement rate is explained by the mistake of the General Staff committed in the mid-1990s. "Due to that mistake every odd year's summer up to 50 percent of the personnel retire from many units of the group, which badly affects combat readiness of those units," a source told Interfax-AVN.
"Besides, almost all departments and services of the group are doing nothing but receiving and distributing raw recruits at present. For instance, the section that almost all constripts are passing through has been working in the emergency mode for several days and will continue to do so for several more days," the source
The situation is especially complicated in ground units of the Kamchatka group stationed in the localities of Dolinovka, Chapayevka and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The group had to deploy so-called youth training centres there and now the units lack personnel to guard their own installations.