MOSCOW. Aug 7 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Armed Forces lack about 48,000 officers, Lieutenant General Nikolai Pankov, chief of the Defense Ministry's main HR department and deputy defense minister in charge of HR, said on Wednesday.
An insufficient number of officers, primarily on the level of platoons and companies, is the main problem for the Armed Forces reform, Pankov told Interfax-Military News Agency.
"The system of officers' training does not meet requirements as far as both quantity and quality of officers are concerned. The Armed Forces lack about 48,000 officers. The problem is especially acute for primary officer posts. Military educational establishments are no longer capable of making up for the yearly retirement of officers from military service. That is why the number of retiring officers is two to three times higher than it was forecasted," Pankov said.
"Drastic changes in the system of officers' training and their employment by the army and navy will begin in 2005, when transition to professional service starts in the Armed Forces and troops start getting up-to-date armament and military hardware," he said.
"But we are not going to waste our time before that. The Russian government has approved the federal program of restructuring the military education system for the period until 2010, and the Defense Ministry is the program's coordinator. Already in 2003, we will begin creating conditions for full-scale adjustment of the military education system to the new structure, strength and goals of the Russian Armed Forces. Amendments will be made to current legislation in order to increase the minimal and average duration of officers' service and reduce the number of cadets expelled from military educational establishments. We will make some other changes as well," the general noted.