MOSCOW. Feb 19 (Interfax-AVN) - A new stage in establishment of an interdepartmental logistics support system, which is the stage of practical measures dealing with the system establishment, will start in the near future, Colonel General Vladimir Isakov, Armed Forces logistics support chief and deputy defense minister, told Interfax-Military News Agency on Tuesday.
The new phase became possible after the plan of transition to a single logistics support system servicing the Armed Forces, other federal troops, military formations and bodies was approved, Isakov said.
The expected term of the transition to the unified logistics support system correspond to stages of army development fixed by the draft basics of the Russian state policy on military development, Isakov said. There are three stages in the plan's implementation, the first scheduled for 2002, the second for 2003 and the third for 2004 to 2005.
The Defense Ministry has started providing logistics support to the Federal Agency of Governmental Communication and Information, railway troops and special construction formations on the entire Russian territory. Besides, it is providing logistics support to border guard troops within the unified federal troops group in the North Caucasus, in Tajikistan, the Russian North-east and the Kaliningrad region.
Isakov stressed that decisions of the Russian Security Council and government on transition to the unified logistics support system were of major importance. The basic documents such as Program and Plan of Basic Measures were elaborated in 2001, and their step-by-step implementation will make it possible to eliminate parallel supplies from various departments, put one department in charge of orders' placement, purchases and maintenance of stocks, and help develop the rear infrastructure.
The transition is possible without attracting extra-budget funds using money from the state budget only. Isakov said.