MINSK. April 21 (Interfax-AVN) - Belarussian Defense Minister Leonid Maltsev said that Belarus is planning to create "a highly professional army numbering 65,000 people by 2010."
The minister said that staffing the army with contract servicemen will help make it more professional. However, he said that there are no plans to recruit soldiers and sergeants on a contractual basis just yet. "We have no objective need to artificially draw contract servicemen, and we have no need to keep people who do not fit their positions and ranks in military service," Maltsev said.