MOSCOW. Oct 7 (Interfax-AVN) - As many as 1,207 people were found guilty of evading military service in the first half of 2002, a competent source in the Russian Defense Ministry told Interfax-Military News Agency on Monday.
In particular, 999 people were found guilty of leaving their units without authorization, but returning within three days, 200 servicemen were sentenced for desertion and eight servicemen for self-mutilation and other actions aimed at evading military service, the source said.
A total of 2,147 people were found guilty of evading military service in 2001. Among them are 1,754 people who left their units without authorization, but returned within three days, 373 deserters and 20 people who caused injuries to themselves or used other ways to evade military service.
According to data available to the Defense Ministry, the highest number of people were sentenced for these crimes from 1993 to 1996. About 800 to 900 people were annually found guilty of desertion and 30 to 40 people for self-injury in that period of time. The number of people sentenced for leaving their units without authorization and returning within three days would approach 3,000. For instance, 2,910 people were sentenced for this offense in 1993.
"The number of servicemen convicted for these crimes has declined by 15 to 20 percent since 1997," the source said.
President Vladimir Putin said on October 5 that it is necessary to change the situation in the Armed Forces so that young men would not be afraid to join the army.
"It is necessary to change the situation in the army, it is necessary to conduct the military reform, it is necessary to man the units where service is risky mostly by professionals, who make this step consciously," Putin said at a meeting with finalists and organizers of the Teacher of the Year in Russia contest.
"It is an enormous and complicated work, but I am sure that we will go it, maybe not as quickly as we would like to, but we will reach our goal," the president said.
There is a problem with the manning of the Armed Forces, Putin went on. In particular, thanks to many types of draft deferments, "there will be no one available for recruitment soon," he said.
Speaking about the situation in the Armed Forces, the president said it has changed for the better. He recalled that the 1999 militants' attack against Dagestan was fraught with the real danger of having Caucasus broken away from Russia. "We were just one step short of declaring mobilization and waging a large- scale civil war," he said.
According to Putin, there were no combat-ready units to do the actual fighting as even the Land Forces were badly undermanned and conscripts aged 18 to 19 had to be brought in from all over the country.
"Now the situation has changed for the better, with the improprieties that do occur every now and then stemming mostly from laxity and neglect of duty," Putin said.
Asked whether it was possible to grant draft deferments to graduates of pedagogical universities and academies, Putin said the issue requires consideration. He did not rule out that the work of young men at schools can become a type of alternative civil service.