ST.PETERSBURG. June 9 (Interfax-AVN) - As many as 85 percent of the required number of people have been recruited for active duty service in northwestern European Russia, Colonel Sergei Talanov, chief of the conscription section in the mobilization department of the Leningrad military district HQ, said on Monday.
About 53 percent of the required number of people have already been sent to military units, Talanov told Interfax- Military News Agency.
"The figures were much higher by this moment during the latest autumn draft. But it does not mean that implementation of the conscription plan is in jeopardy," the colonel stressed.
A considerable number of young men will leave for military units in late June after graduation from educational establishments, he said. Military commissioner's officers have asked the heads of professional colleges, training colleges and lyceums for letting the young men subject to conscription graduate first.
"We have found understanding among directors and young men. The practice has justified itself - conscripts complete their education beforehand, not one or two days before leaving for troops, and arrive in military units as competent civilian specialists, which will provide for manning training units and permanent readiness units on a higher quality level," Talanov said.
According to him, local budgets have allocated over RUB3.5m (USD114,720) for the spring draft. St. Petersburg accounts for nearly RUB1m (USD32,780) of this sum.
"The Volograd region, where Major General Valery Varshavsky is the military commissioner, is the best region as far as arrangement of conscription is concerned. The share of recruits sent to military units has exceeded 60 percent, and early graduation of young men subject to conscription is well arranged there," Talanov noted.