MOSCOW. Sept 11 (Interfax-AVN) - A plan on the selection of candidates for serving in the 76th airborne division where an experiment on the transition to professional army started on September 1 might be disrupted, a source in the Russian Defense Ministry told Interfax-Military News Agency on Wednesday.
"In accordance with a General Staff directive from June 17 this year military commissioner's officers should select 3,100 candidates for the division. Out of that number 1,100 people should be sent to Pskov where the division is stationed but the selection plan might be disrupted," the source said.
The source stressed that "by the end of this year military commissioner's offices in the Siberian military district should gather 175 candidates for the division and only 20 are selected, Leningrad military district should provide 140 but selected only 80, North Caucasus military district should provide 110 but selected only five, Volga-Ural military district should provide 210 but selected only 27. Practically the case concerns the delaying of the experiment from the very start," the source went on.
On the reason why people refuse to sign the contract is an extremely low salary. "There are not so many recruits, who wish to serve for RUB3,500-4,000 (USD110.58-126.38) per month in the airborne troops which are always engaged in combat operations," the source added.