MOSCOW. Feb 18 (Interfax-AVN) - A senior Russian military official said that units of the North Caucasus Military District will be the first among the Land Forces to transfer to a contract basis.
Colonel General Nikolai Kormiltsev, deputy defense minister and Land Forces commander, said at a news conference in Moscow on Tuesday that "the transition to contract-based service will begin with the stand-by units of the North Caucasus Military District."
A Defense Ministry commission recently visited the district to determine the order and set a preliminary timeframe for its personnel to start serving under contracts. Similar commissions will visit the Volga-Urals Military District and other districts.
Kormiltsev said that unit commanders in training centers, instructors and some other personnel will be transferred to a contract basis during the first stage. "The appropriate steps have already been taken," he said.
The minimum salary of contract servicemen will be RUB7,000- 8,000 (USD221.8-253.5). "Of course, people from Moscow won't agree to serve for this salary. But people living more than one hundred kilometers from Moscow would be willing to join the army for this kind of money," Kormiltsev said.
The Land Forces have implemented all plans for the first two months of 2003, the commander went on. He praised a gradual decline in the crime rate in military units, saying it was one of the positive tendencies.
"Of course, there are still some crimes, especially those related to hazing and national feud. We will still have to work on this issue, and we are doing it," Kormiltsev said.
The draft of new disciplinary regulations will soon be completed, he said. The work is protracted by several legal issues that are not yet settled. A recent working meeting on the regulations involved members of the State Duma lower house of parliament.
The Land Forces have spent all budget funds allocated in the framework of the state defense order, which made it possible to provide workload for several defense industry enterprises. "I hope that we will accomplish this mission this year, too," Kormiltsev said.
According to him, Russian peacekeepers in the Georgian- Abkhaz conflict zone are serving in the regular mode. He said he was hoping that Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze will eventually extend their mandate for another six months. The Russian Foreign Ministry is working in this field, Kormiltsev said. He praised results of Russian peacekeepers' service in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia, where mutual understanding has been reached with both parties to the conflict.
Asked about possible developments in Iraq, Kormiltsev said large-scale land operations will be inevitable in case a military action starts against this country.
"It will be difficult, next to impossible for the United States and its allies to gain supremacy over the Iraqi army with a relatively high potential by air strikes alone," the Land Forces commander said. The Iraqi army is fitted with quite efficient hardware, and a large number of male residents of Iraq can be called to arms, if necessary, he said.
According to him, skills of U.S. servicemen in the conflict zone are superior to those of Russian Land Forces servicemen. "Not us alone, but also military observers from Germany, France, the Czech Republic and other countries, note the superiority of our combat training," the general concluded.