MOSCOW. Nov 14 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Defense Ministry will not be able to pay the claims of soldiers who are serving or have served in trouble spots concerning arrears in field allowances this year.
"Due to a considerable increase in the number of analogous court rulings, it is not possible to pay the claims in full and in due time this year, on which the Russian government has been informed. Proceeding from this, the Defense Ministry allocates funds for payment of expenses related to court rulings as soon as such funds are raised," Deputy Defense Minister in Charge of Financial and Economic Activity Lyubov Kudelina wrote in a letter to Andrei Nikolayev, defense committee chairman in the State Duma lower house of parliament.
Funds for paying back the arrears of triple field allowances and double regular allowances to servicemen who are serving or have served in Chechnya and adjacent areas are not written into the federal budget for 2002, the letter reads.
"Facing the necessity to implement court decisions under the circumstances of limited financing, the Defense Ministry has to raise funds through cutting current payments to personnel or allocations for the Armed Forces maintenance," the letter reads.
A source in the Duma defense committee told Interfax- Military News Agency that Kudelina had sent a letter in response to Nikolayev's request concerning payment of arrears of field allowances to soldiers serving on the territory adjacent to the conflict zone in Chechnya and provision of selected privileges to them in compliance with court decisions.
Deputy chairman of the committee Alexei Arbatov earlier told Interfax-AVN that the State Duma had drafted a request to Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov on the state and prospects of paying back arrears of field allowances to which soldiers who are serving or have served in Chechnya and adjacent areas are entitled.
According to Arbatov, the Defense Ministry can be sued for a total of over RUB20bn (USD628.04m).